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CHINA 

BY 

DEMETRIUS  CHARLES  BOULGER 

WITH  A  SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER  OF   RECENT   EVENTS 

By  MAYO  W.  HAZELT1NE 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 

PETER  FENELON  COLLIER  &  SON 

MCM 


35 
3Uc 


1  DEDICATE  THIS  SHORT 

HISTORY  OF  CHINA 

TO 

Sir  Halliday  Macartney,  K.C.M.G. 

AS  A   SLIGHT   TRIBUTE    OF    PKR80NAL  RESPECT  AND  ADMIRATION    FOR   ONE   WHO 

HAS   MAINTAINED    THE   RIGHT   OF  CHINA    TO    BE   TREATED    BT   THS 

GOVERNMENTS   OF   EUROPE    WITH   THE   DIGNITY  AND 

CONSIDERATION   THAT   BECOME  A 

GREAT  EMPIRE. 

IF   TO   LORD   MACARTNEY   WE   OWE  THE  FIRST  SUCCESSFUL   ATTEMPT   TO   OBTAIN 
AUDIENCE   OF   THE   EMPEROR    OF    CHINA    ON    THE   SAME   CONDI- 
TIONS AS  THOSE   ON   WHICH    FOREIGN    EMBASSADORS 
ARE  RECEIVED  AT  EUROPEAN  COURTS,  TO 

SIR    HALLIDAY    MACARTNEY 

A   SCION   OF  THE   SAME    FAMILY 

CHINA 

OWES  MUCH  OF  THE  SUCCESS  THAT  HAS  ATTENDED  HER  DIPLOMACY 
IN    FOREIGN   COUNTRIES 


\%H*on 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2007 


http://archive.org/details/chinaboulgerdemeOObouliala 


CONTENTS 


our. 

I.  The  Eablt  Ages 11 

II.  The  Fibst  National  Dynasty 20 

III.  A  Long  Pebiod  of  Disunion 48 

IV.  The  Sungs  and  the  Kins 86 

V.  The  Mongol  Conquest  or  China 86 

VI.   KUBLAI  AND  THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY 138 

VLT.  The  Ming  Dynasty.  180 

VHI.  The  Decline  of  the  Mings 188 

IX.  The  Manchu  Conquest  of  China 178 

X.  The  First  Manchu  Ruler  194 

XI.  The  Empebor  Kanghi 204 

XII.  A  Short  Reign  and  the  Beginning  of  a  Long  One. 318 

XIII.  Keen  Lung's  Wabs  and  Conquests. » 220 

XIV.  The  Commencement  of  Eubopean  Intercourse 340 

XV.  The  Decline  of  the  Manchus 240 

XVI.  The  Emperor  Taoukwang 261 

XVII.  The  First  Foreign  War. 371 

XVUI.  Taoukwang  and  His  Successor 810 

XIX.  The  Second  Foreign  War. 835 

XX.  The  Taeping  Rebellion 880 

XXI.  The  Regency 437 

XXII.  The  Reign  of  Kwangsu 46B 

The  War  With  Japan  and  Subsequent  Events 806 

The  Futube  of  China 800 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


CHINA 


Frontispiece — The  Emperor  Receiving  the  Diplomatic  Corps 

Hong  Kong 

Canton — The  Flower  Pagoda      ...... 

Kang,  the  Reformer     .         .        .        .  '    \.        .        .        . 


PREFACE 


As  China  has  now  fairly  taken  her  place  in  the 
family  of  nations,  it  is  unnecessary  to  elaborate  an 
argument  in  support  of  even  the  humblest  attempt  to 
elucidate  her  history.  It  is  a  subject  to  which  we  can 
no  longer  remain  indifferent,  because  circumstances  are 
bringing  every  day  more  clearly  into  view  the  impor- 
tant part  China  must  play  in  the  changes  that  have 
become  imminent  in  Asia,  and  that  will  affect  the 
security  of  our  position  and  empire  in  that  continent. 
A  good  understanding  with  China  should  be  the  first 
article  of  our  Eastern  policy,  for  not  only  in  Central 
Asia,  but  also  in  Indo-China,  where  French  ambition 
threatens  to  create  a  fresh  Egypt,  her  interests  coincide 
with  ours  and  furnish  the  sound  basis  of  a  fruitful 
alliance. 

This  book,  which  I  may  be  pardoned  for  saying  is 
not  an  abridgment  of  my  original  work,  but  entirely 
rewritten  and  rearranged  with  the  view  of  giving 
prominence  to  the  modern  history  of  the  Chinese  Em- 
pire, may  appeal,  although  they  generally  treat  Asiatic 
subjects  with  regrettable  indifference,  to  that  wider  circle 
of  English  readers  on  whose  opinion  and  efforts  the  de- 
velopment of  our  political  and  commercial  relations  with 
the  greatest  of    Oriental   States  will   mainly   depend. 

D.  C.  BOULGER. 
April  28,  1893. 


A  SHORT 

HISTORY   OF   CHINA 


CHAPTER  I 

THE     EARLY     AGES 

The  Chinese  are  unquestionably  the  oldest  nation  in  the 
world,  and  their  history  goes  back  to  a  period  to  which  no 
prudent  historian  will  attempt  to  give  a  precise  date.  They 
speak  the  language  and  observe  the  same  social  and  political 
customs  that  they  did  several  thousand  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  and  they  are  the  only  living  representatives 
to-day  of  a  people  and  government  which  were  contempo- 
rary with  the  Egyptians,  the  Assyrians,  and  the  Jews.  So 
far  as  our  knowledge  enables  us  to  speak,  the  Chinese  of  the 
present  age  are  in  all  essential  points  identical  with  those  of 
the  time  of  Confucius,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
before  his  time  the  Chinese  national  character  had  been 
thoroughly  formed  in  its  present  mold.  The  limits  of  the 
empire  have  varied  from  time  to  time  under  circumstances 
of  triumph  or  disunion,  but  the  Middle  Kingdom,  or  China 
Proper,  of  the  eighteen  provinces  has  always  possessed  more 
or  less  of  its  existing  proportions.  Another  striking  and 
peculiar  feature  about  China  is  the  small  amount  of  influ- 
ence that  the  rest  of  the  world  has  exercised  upon  it.  In 
fact,  it  is  only  during  the  present  century  that  that  influence 
can  be  said  to  have  existed  at  all.  Up  to  that  point  China 
had  pursued  a  course  of  her  own,  carrying  on  her  own  strug- 
gles within  a  definite  limit,  and  completely  indifferent  to,  and 

(ID 


12  A    SHORT    HISTORY    OF    CHINA. 

ignorant  of,  the  ceaseless  competition  and  contests  of  man 
kind  outside  her  orbit,  which  make  up  the  history  of  the  rest 
of  the  Old  "World.  The  long  struggles  for  supremacy  in 
Western  Asia  between  Assyrian,  Babylonian  and  Persian, 
the  triumphs  of  the  Greek,  followed  by  the  absorption  of 
what  remained  of  the  Macedonian  conquests  in  the  Empire 
of  Rome,  even  the  appearance  of  Islam  and  the  Mohamme- 
dan conquerors,  who  changed  the  face  of  Southern  Asia  from 
the  Ganges  to  the  Levant,  and  long  threatened  to  overrun 
Europe,  had  no  significance  for  the  people  of  China,  and 
reacted  as  little  on  their  destiny  as  if  they  had  happened  in 
another  planet.  "Whatever  advantages  the  Chinese  may 
have  derived  from  this  isolation,  it  has  entailed  the  pen- 
alty that  the  early  history  of  their  country  is  devoid  of  in- 
terest for  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  it  is  only  when  the  long 
independent  courses  of  China  and  Europe  are  brought  into 
proximity  by  the  Mongol  conquests,  the  efforts  of  the  medie- 
val travelers,  the  development  of  commerce,  and  the  wars 
carried  on  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  secure  position  for 
foreigners  in  China — four  distinct  phases  covering  the  last 
seven  centuries — that  any  confidence  can  be  felt  in  success- 
fully attracting  notice  to  the  affairs  of  China.  Yet,  as  a 
curiosity  in  human  existence,  the  earlier  history  of  that 
country  may  justly  receive  some  notice.  Even  though  the 
details  are  not  recited,  the  recollection  of  the  antiquity  of 
China's  institutions  must  be  ever  present  with  the  student, 
as  affording  an  indispensable  clew  to  the  character  of  the 
Chinese  people  and  the  composition  of  their  government. 

The  first  Chinese  are  supposed  to  have  been  a  nomad 
tribe  in  the  province  of  Shensi,  which  lies  in  the  northwest 
of  China,  and  among  them  at  last  appeared  a  ruler,  Fohi, 
whose  name  at  least  has  been  preserved.  His  deeds  and  his 
person  are  mythical,  but  he  is  credited  with  having  given 
his  country  its  first  regular  institutions.  One  of  his  succes- 
sors was  Hwangti  (which  means  Heavenly  Emperor),  who 
was  the  first  to  employ  the  imperial  style  of  Emperor,  the 
earlier  rulers  having  been  content  with  the  inferior  title  of 


THE   EARLY  AGES.  13 

Wang,  or  prince.  He  adopted  the  convenient  decimal  divis- 
ion in  his  administration  as  well  as  his  coinage.  His  domin- 
ions were  divided  into  ten  provinces,  each  of  these  into  ten 
departments,  these  again  into  ten  districts,  each  of  which 
held  ten  towns.  He  regulated  the  calendar,  originating  the 
Chinese  cycle  of  sixty  years,  and  he  encouraged  commerce. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  wise  prince  and  to  have  been  the 
first  of  the  great  emperors.  His  grandson,  who  was  also 
emperor,  continued  his  good  work  and  earned  the  reputation 
of  being  "the  restorer  or  even  founder  of  true  astronomy." 
But  the  most  famous  of  Hwangti's  successors  was  his 
great-grandson  Yao,  who  is  still  one  of  the  most  revered  of 
all  Chinese  rulers.  He  was  "diligent,  enlightened,  polished 
and  prudent,"  and  if  his  words  reflected  his  actions  he  must 
have  been  most  solicitous  of  the  welfare  of  his  people.  He 
is  specially  remarkable  for  his  anxiety  to  discover  the  best 
man  to  succeed  him  in  the  government,  and  during  the  last 
twenty-eight  years  of  his  reign  he  associated  the  minister 
Chun  with  him  for  that  purpose.  On  his  death  he  left  the 
crown  to  him,  and  Chun,  after  some  hesitation,  accepted  the 
charge;  but  he  in  turn  hastened  to  secure  the  co-operation  of 
another  minister  named  Yu  in  the  work  of  administration, 
just  as  he  had  been  associated  with  Yao.  The  period  cov- 
ered bv  the  rule  of  this  triumvirate  is  considered  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  and  perfect  in  Chinese  history,  and  it  bears  a 
resemblance  to  the  age  of  the  Antonines.  These  rulers  seem 
to  have  passed  their  leisure  from  practical  work  in  framing 
moral  axioms,  and  in  carrying  out  a  model  scheme  of  gov- 
ernment based  on  the  purest  ethics.  They  considered  that 
"a  prince  intrusted  with  the  charge  of  a  State  has  a  heavy 
task.  The  happiness  of  his  subjects  absolutely  depends 
upon  him.  To  provide  for  everything  is  his  duty ;  his  min- 
isters are  only  put  in  office  to  assist  him,"  and  also  that  "a 
prince  who  wishes  to  fulfill  his  obligations,  and  to  long  pre- 
serve his  people  in  the  ways  of  peace,  ought  to  watch  with- 
out ceasing  that  the  laws  are  observed  with  exactitude." 
They  were  stanch  upholders  of  temperance,  and  they  ban- 


i4  A    SH0R7    HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

ished  the  unlucky  discoverer  of  the  fact  that  an  intoxicating 
drink  could  be  obtained  from  rice.  They  also  held  fast  to 
the  theory  that  all  government  must  be  based  on  the  popular 
will.  In  fact,  the  reigns  of  Yao,  Chun  and  Yu  are  the  ideal 
period  of  Chinese  history,  when  all  questions  were  decided  by 
moral  right  and  justice,  and  even  now  Chinese  philosophers 
are  said  to  test  their  maxims  of  morality  by  the  degree 
of  agreement  they  may  have  with  the  conduct  of  those 
rulers. 

With  them  passed  away  the  practice  of  letting  the  most 
capable  and  experienced  minister  rule  the  State.  Such  an 
impartial  and  reasonable  mode  of  selecting  the  head  of  a 
community  can  never  be  perpetuated.  The  rulers  them- 
selves may  see  its  advantages  and  may  endeavor  as  honestly 
as  these  three  Chinese  princes  to  carry  out  the  arrangement, 
but  the  day  must  come  when  the  family  of  the  able  ruler 
will  assert  its  rights  to  the  succession,  and  take  advantage 
of  its  opportunities  from  its  close  connection  with  the  gov- 
ernment to  carry  out  its  ends.  The  Emperor  Yu,  true  to 
the  practice  of  his  predecessors,  nominated  the  president 
of  the  council  as  his  successor,  but  his  son  Tiki  seized  the 
throne,  and  became  the  founder  of  the  first  Chinese  dynasty, 
which  was  called  the  Hia,  from  the  name  of  the  province 
first  ruled  by  his  father.  This  event  is  supposed  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  year  2197  B.C.,  and  the  Hia  dynasty,  of 
which  there  were  seventeen  emperors,  ruled  down  to  the 
year  1776  B.C.  These  Hia  princes  present  no  features  of 
interest,  and  the  last  of  them,  named  Kia,  was  deposed  by 
one  of  his  principal  nobles,  Ching  Tang,  Prince  of  Chang. 

This  prince  was  the  founder  of  the  second  dynasty,  known 
as  Chang,  which  held  possession  of  the  throne  for  654  years, 
or  down  to  1122  B.C.  With  the  exception  of  the  founder, 
who  seems  to  have  been  an  able  man,  this  dynasty  of 
twenty-eight  emperors  did  nothing  very  noteworthy.  The 
public  morality  deteriorated  very  much  under  this  family, 
and  it  is  said  that  when  one  of  the  emperors  wanted  an 
honest  man  as  minister  he  could  only  find  one  in  the  person 


THE    EARLY   AGES.  15 

of  a  common  laborer.     At  last,  in  the  twelfth  century  before 
our  era,  the  enormities  of  the  Chang  rulers  reached  a  climax 
in  the  person  of  Chousin,  who  was  deposed  by  a  populai  ris 
ing  headed  by  Wou  Wang,  Prince  of  Chow. 

This  successful  soldier,  whose  name  signifies  the  Warrior 
King,  founded  the  third  Chinese  dynasty  of  Chow,  which 
governed  the  empire  for  the  long  space  of  867  years  down  to 
255  B.C.  During  that  protracted  period  there  were  necessa- 
rily good  and  bad  emperors,  and  the  Chow  dynasty  was  ren- 
dered specially  illustrious  by  the  appearance  of  the  great 
social  and  religious  reformers,  Laoutse,  Confucius  and  Men- 
cius,  during  the  existence  of  its  power.  The  founder  of  the 
dynasty  instituted  the  necessary  reforms  to  prove  that  he 
was  a  national  benefactor,  and  one  of  his  successors,  known 
as  the  Magnificent  King,  extended  the  authority  of  his 
family  over  some  of  the  States  of  Turkestan.  But,  on  the 
whole,  the  rulers  of  the  Chow  dynasty  were  not  particu- 
larly distinguished,  and  one  of  them  in  the  eighth  century 
B.  c.  was  weak  enough  to  resign  a  portion  of  his  sovereign 
rights  to  a  powerful  vassal,  Siangkong,  the  Prince  of  Tsin, 
in  consideration  of  his  undertaking  the  defense  of  the  fron- 
tier against  the  Tartars.  At  this  period  the  authority  of  the 
central  government  passed  under  a  cloud.  The  emperor*s 
prerogative  became  the  shadow  of  a  name,  and  the  last  three 
centuries  of  the  rule  of  this  family  would  not  call  for  notice 
but  for  the  genius  of  Laoutse  and  Confucius,  who  were  both 
great  moral  teachers  and  religious  reformers. 

Laoutse,  the  founder  of  Taouism,  was  the  first  in  point 
of  time,  and  in  some  respects  he  was  the  greatest  of  these 
reformers.  He  found  his  countrymen  sunk  in  a  low  state  of 
moral  indifference  and  religious  infidelity  which  corresponded 
with  the  corruption  of  the  times  and  the  disunion  in  the 
kingdom.  He  at  once  set  himself  to  work  with  energy  and 
devotion  to  repair  the  evils  of  his  day,  and  to  raise  before 
his  countrymen  a  higher  ideal  of  duty.  He  has  been  called 
the  Chinese  Pythagoras,  the  most  erudite  of  sinologues  have 
pronounced  his  text  obscure,  and  the  mysterious  Taouism 


16  A   SHORT  HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

which  he  founded  holds  the  smallest  or  the  least  assignable 
part  in  what  passes  for  the  religion  of  the  Chinese.  As  a 
philosopher  and  minister  Laoutse  will  always  attract  atten- 
tion and  excite  speculation,  but  as  a  practical  reformer  and 
politician  he  was  far  surpassed  by  his  younger  and  less  theo- 
retical contemporary  Confucius. 

Confucius  was  an  official  in  the  service  of  one  of  the 
great  princes  who  divided  the  governing  power  of  China 
among  themselves  during  the  whole  of  the  seventh  century 
before  our  era,  which  beheld  the  appearance  of  both  of  these 
religious  teachers  and  leaders.  He  was  a  trained  adminis- 
trator with  long  experience  when  he  urged  upon  his  prince 
the  necessity  of  reform,  and  advocated  a  policy  of  union 
throughout  the  States.  His  exhortations  were  in  vain,  and 
bo  far  ill-timed  that  he  was  obliged  to  resign  the  service  of 
one  prince  after  another.  In  his  day  the  authority  of  the 
Chow  emperor  had  been  reduced  to  the  lowest  point.  Each 
prince  was  unto  himself  the  supreme  authority.  Yet  one 
cardinal  point  of  the  policy  of  Confucius  was  submission  to 
the  emperor,  as  implicit  obedience  to  the  head  of  the  State 
throughout  the  country  as  was  paid  to  the  father  of  every 
Chinese  household.  Although  he  failed  to  find  a  prince 
after  his  own  heart,  his  example  and  precepts  were  not 
thrown  away,  for  in  a  later  generation  his  reforms  were 
executed,  and  down  to  the  present  day  the  best  points  in 
Chinese  government  are  based  on  his  recommendations.  If 
"no  intelligent  monarch  arose"  in  his  time,  the  greatest 
emperors  have  since  sought  to  conform  with  his  usages  and 
to  rule  after  the  ideal  of  the  great  philosopher.  His  name 
and  his  teachings  were  perpetuated  by  a  band  of  devoted 
disciples,  and  the  book  which  contained  the  moral  and  philo- 
sophical axioms  of  Confucius  passed  into  the  classic  litera- 
ture of  the  country  and  stood  in  the  place  of  a  Bible  for  the 
Chinese.  The  list  of  the  great  Chinese  reformers  is  com- 
pleted by  the  name  of  Mencius,  who,  coming  two  centuries 
later,  carried  on  with  better  opportunities  the  reforming 
work  of  Confucius,  and  left  behind  him  in  his  Sheking  the 


THE   EARLY   AGES.  17 

most  popular  book  of  Chinese  poetry  and  a  crowning  tribute 
to  the  great  Master. 

From  teachers  we  must  again  pass  to  the  chronicle  of 
kings,  although  few  of  the  later  Chow  emperors  deserve 
their  names  to  be  rescued  from  oblivion.  One  emperor  suf- 
fered a  severe  defeat  while  attempting  to  establish  his  au- 
thority over  the  troublesome  tribes  beyond  the  frontier;  of 
another  it  was  written  that  "his  good  qualities  merited  a 
happier  day,"  and  the  general  character  of  the  age  may  be 
inferred  from  its  being  designated  by  the  native  chroniclers 
"The  warlike  period."  At  last,  after  what  seemed  an  in- 
terminable old  age,  marked  by  weakness  and  vice,  the  Chow 
dynasty  came  to  an  end  in  the  person  of  Nan  Wang,  who, 
although  he  reigned  for  nearly  sixty  years,  was  deposed  in 
ignominious  fashion  by  one  of  his  great  vassals,  and  reduced 
to  a  humble  position.  His  conqueror  became  the  founder  of 
the  fourth  Chinese  dynasty. 

During  the  period  of  internal  strife  which  marked  the  last 
four  centuries  of  the  Chow  dynasty,  one  family  had  steadily 
waxed  stronger  and  stronger  among  the  princes  of  China:  the 
princes  of  Tsin,  by  a  combination  of  prudence  and  daring, 
gradually  made  themselves  supreme  among  their  fellows. 
It  was  said  of  one  of  them  that  "like  a  wolf  or  a  tiger  he 
wished  to  draw  all  the  other  princes  into  his  claws,  so  that 
he  might  devour  them."  Several  of  the  later  Tsin  princes, 
and  particularly  one  named  Chow  Siang  "Wang,  showed 
great  capacity,  and  carried  out  a  systematic  policy  for  their 
own  aggrandizement.  When  Nan  Wang  was  approaching 
the  end  of  his  career,  the  Tsin  princes  had  obtained  every- 
thing of  the  supreme  power  short  of  the  name  and  the  right 
to  wear  the  imperial  yellow  robes.  Ching  Wang,  or,  to  give 
him  his  later  name  as  emperor,  Tsin  Chi  Hwangti,  was  the 
reputed  great-grandson  of  Chow  Siang  Wang,  and  under 
him  the  fame  and  power  of  the  Tsins  reached  their  culmi- 
nating point.  This  prince  also  proved  himself  one  of  the 
greatest  rulers  who  ever  sat  on  the  Dragon  throne  of 
China. 


18  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

The  country  had  been  so  long  distracted  by  internal  strife, 
and  the  authority  of  the  emperor  had  been  reduced  to  such  a 
shadow,  that  peace  was  welcomed  under  any  ruler,  and  the 
hope  was  indulged  that  the  Tsin  princes,  who  had  succeeded 
in  making  themselves  the  most  powerful  feudatories  of  the 
empire,  might  be  able  to  restore  to  the  central  government 
something  of  its  ancient  power  and  splendor.  Nor  was  the 
expectation  unreasonable  or  ungratified.  The  Tsins  had 
fairly  earned  by  their  ability  the  confidence  of  the  Chinese 
nation,  and  their  principal  representative  showed  no  dimi- 
nution of  energy  on  attaining  the  throne,  and  exhibited  in  a 
higher  post,  and  on  a  wider  field,  the  martial  and  statesman- 
like qualities  his  ancestors  had  displayed  when  building  up 
the  fabric  of  their  power  as  princes  of  the  empire.  Their 
supremacy  was  not  acquiesced  in  by  the  other  great  feuda- 
tories without  a  struggle,  and  more  than  one  campaign  was 
fought  before  all  rivals  were  removed  from  their  path,  and 
their  authority  passed  unchallenged  as  occupants  of  the 
Imperial  office. 

It  was  in  the  middle  of  this  final  struggle,  and  when  the 
result  might  still  be  held  doubtful,  that  Tsin  Chi  Hwangti 
began  his  eventful  reign.  When  he  began  to  rule  he  was 
only  thirteen  years  of  age,  but  he  quickly  showed  that  he 
possessed  the  instinct  of  a  statesman,  and  the  courage  of  a 
born  commander  of  armies.  On  the  one  hand  he  sowed  dis- 
sension between  the  most  formidable  of  his  opponents,  and 
brought  about  by  a  stratagem  the  disgrace  of  the  ablest  gen- 
eral in  their  service,  and  on  the  other  he  increased  his  army 
in  numbers  and  efficiency,  until  it  became  unquestionably  the 
most  formidable  fighting  force  in  China.  "While  he  endeav- 
ored thus  to  attain  internal  peace,  he  was  also  studious  in 
providing  for  the  general  security  of  the  empire,  and  with 
this  object  he  began  the  construction  of  a  fortified  wall  across 
the  northern  frontier  to  serve  as  a  defense  against  the  trou- 
blesome Hiongnou  tribes,  who  are  identified  with  the  Huns 
of  Attila.  This  wall,  which  he  began  in  the  first  years  <r* 
his  reign,  was  finished  before  his  death,  and  stil1  exist*  a*  tht. 


THE   EARLY   AGES.  19 

Great  Wall  of  China,  which  has  been  considered  one  of  the 
wonders  of  the  world.  He  was  careful  in  his  many  wars 
with  the  tribes  of  Mongolia  not  to  allow  himself  to  be  drawn 
far  from  his  own  border,  and  at  the  close  of  a  campaign  he 
always  withdrew  his  troops  behind  the  Great  Wall.  Toward 
Central  Asia  he  was  more  enterprising,  and  one  of  his  best 
generals,  Moungtien,  crossed  what  is  now  the  Gobi  Desert, 
and  made  Hami  the  frontier  fortress  of  the  empire. 

In  his  civil  administration  Hwangti  was  aided  by  the 
minister  Lisseh,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  rare 
ability,  and  to  have  entered  heartily  into  all  his  master's 
schemes  for  uniting  the  empire.  While  Hwangti  sat  on  the 
throne  with  a  naked  sword  in  his  hand,  as  the  emblem  of  his 
authority,  dispensing  justice,  arranging  the  details  of  his 
many  campaigns,  and  superintending  the  innumerable  affairs 
of  his  government,  his  minister  was  equally  active  in  reor- 
ganizing the  administration  and  in  supporting  his  sovereign 
in  his  bitter  struggle  with  the  literary  classes  who  advocated 
archaic  principles,  and  whose  animosity  to  the  ruler  was  in- 
flamed by  the  contempt,  not  unmixed  with  ferocity,  with 
which  he  treated  them.  The  empire  was  divided  into  thirty- 
six  provinces,  and  he  impressed  upon  the  governors  the  im- 
portance of  improving  communications  within  their  jurisdic- 
tion .  Not  content  with  this  general  precept,  he  issued  a  special 
decree  ordering  that  "roads  shall  be  made  in  all  directions 
throughout  the  empire,"  and  the  origin  of  the  main  routes 
in  China  may  be  found  with  as  much  certainty  in  his  reign 
as  that  of  the  roads  of  Europe  in  the  days  of  Imperial  Rome. 
When  advised  to  assign  some  portion  of  his  power  to  his  rela- 
tives and  high  officials  in  the  provinces  he  refused  to  repeat 
the  blunders  of  his  predecessors,  and  laid  down  the  perma- 
nent truth  that  "good  government  is  impossible  under  a  mul- 
tiplicity of  masters."  He  centralized  the  power  in  his  own 
hands,  and  he  drew  up  an  organization  for  the  civil  service  of 
the  State  which  virtually  exists  at  the  present  day.  The  two 
salient  features  in  that  organization  are  the  indisputable 
supremacy  of  the  emperor  and  the  non-employment  of  the 


20  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

officials  in  their  native  provinces,  and  the  experience  of  two 
thousand  years  has  proved  their  practical  value. 

When  he  conquered  his  internal  enemies  he  resolved  to 
complete  the  pacification  of  his  country  by  effecting  a  gen- 
eral disarmament,  and  he  ordered  that  all  weapons  should 
be  sent  in  to  his  capital  at  Hienyang.  This  "skillful  disarm- 
ing of  the  provinces  added  daily  to  the  wealth  and  prosperity 
of  the  capital,"  which  he  proceeded  to  embellish.  He  built 
one  palace  within  the  walls,  and  the  Hall  of  Audience  was 
ornamented  with  twelve  statues,  each  of  which  weighed 
twelve  thousand  pounds.  But  his  principal  residence  named 
the  Palace  of  Delight,  was  without  the  walls,  and  there  he 
laid  out  magnificent  gardens,  and  added  building  to  build- 
ing. In  one  of  the  courts  of  this  latter  palace,  it  is  said  he 
could  have  drawn  up  10,0.} 0  soldiers.  This  eye  to  military 
requirements  in  even  the  ouilding  of  his  residence  showed 
the  temper  of  his  mind,  and,  in  his  efforts  to  form  a  regular 
army,  he  had  recourse  to  "those  classes  in  the  community 
who  were  without  any  fixed  profession,  and  who  were  pos- 
sessed of  exceptional  physical  strength."  He  was  thus  the 
earliest  possessor  in  China  of  what  might  be  called  a  regular 
standing  army.  With  this  force  he  succeeded  in  establishing 
his  power  on  a  firm  basis,  and  he  may  have  hoped  also  to 
insure  permanence  for  his  dynasty ;  but,  alas  J  for  the  fallacy 
of  human  expectations,  the  structure  he  erected  fell  with 
him. 

Great  as  an  administrator,  and  successful  as  a  soldier, 
Hwangti  was  unfortunate  in  one  struggle  that  he  provoked. 
At  an  early  period  of  his  career,  when  success  seemed  uncer- 
tain, he  found  that  his  bitterest  opponents  were  men  of  let- 
ters, and  that  the  literary  class  as  a  body  was  hostile  to  his 
interests  and  person.  Instead  of  ignoring  this  opposition  or 
seeking  to  overcome  it  by  the  same  agency,  Hwangti  ex- 
pressed his  hatred  and  contempt,  not  only  of  the  literary 
class,  but  of  literature  itself,  and  resorted  to  extreme  meas- 
ures of  coercion.  The  writers  took  up  the  gage  of  battle 
thrown  down  by  the  emperor,  and    Hwangti  became  the 


THE   EARLY   AGES.  21 

object  of  the  wit  and  abuse  of  every  literate  who  could  use 
a  pencil.  His  birth  was  aspersed.  It  was  said  that  he  was 
not  a  Tsin  at  all,  that  his  origin  was  of  the  humblest,  and 
that  he  was  a  substituted  child  foisted  on  the  last  of  the  Tsin 
princes.  These  personal  attacks  were  accompanied  by  un- 
favorable criticism  of  all  his  measures,  and  by  censure  where 
he  felt  that  he  deserved  praise.  It  would  have  been  more 
prudent  if  he  had  shown  greater  indifference  and  patience, 
for  although  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  triumphing  by  brute 
force  over  those  who  jeered  at  him,  the  triumph  was  accom- 
plished by  an  act  of  Vandalism,  with  which  his  name  will  be 
quite  as  closely  associated  in  history  as  any  of  the  wise  meas- 
ures or  great  works  that  he  carried  out.  His  vanquished 
opponents  left  behind  them  a  legacy  of  hostility  and  revenge 
of  the  whole  literary  class  of  China,  which  has  found  expres- 
sion in  all  the  national  histories. 

The  struggle,  which  had  been  in  progress  for  some  years, 
reached  its  culminating  point  in  the  year  213  B.C.,  when  a 
Grand  Council  of  the  empire  was  summoned  at  Hienyang. 
At  this  council  were  present  not  only  the  emperor's  chief 
military  and  civil  officers  from  the  different  provinces,  but 
also  the  large  literary  class,  composed  of  aspirants  to  office 
and  the  members  of  the  academies  and  College  of  Censors. 
The  opposing  forces  in  China  were  thus  drawn  up  face  to 
face,  and  it  would  have  been  surprising  if  a  collision  had  not 
occurred.  On  the  one  side  were  the  supporters  of  the  man 
who  had  made  China  again  an  empire,  believers  in  his  person 
and  sharers  in  his  glory ;  on  the  other  were  those  who  had 
no  admiration  for  this  ruler,  who  detested  his  works,  pro- 
claimed his  successes  dangerous  innovations,  and  questioned 
his  right  to  bear  the  royal  name.  The  purpose  of  the  em- 
peror may  bo  detected  when  he  called  upon  speakers  in  this 
assembly  of  his  friends  and  foes  to  express  their  opinions  of 
his  administration,  and  when  a  member  of  his  household  rose 
to  extol  his  work  and  to  declare  that  he  had  "surpassed  the 
very  greatest  of  his  predecessors."  This  courtier-like  dec- 
laration, which  would   have  been  excusable  even  if  it  had 


22  A    SHORl    HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

had  a  less  basis  of  truth  than  it  unquestionably  possessed  in 
the  case  of  Hwangti,  was  received  with  murmurs  and  marks 
of  dissent  by  the  literati.  One  of  them  rose  and  denounced 
the  speaker  as  "a  vile  flatterer,"  and  proceeded  to  expatiate 
on  the  superior  merit  of  several  of  the  earlier  rulers.  Not 
content  with  this  unseasonable  eulogy,  he  advocated  the 
restoration  of  the  empire  to  its  old  form  of  principalities,  and 
the  consequent  undoing  of  all  that  Hwangti  had  accom- 
plished. Hwangti  interrupted  this  speaker  and  called  upon 
his  favorite  minister  Lisseh  to  reply  to  him  and  explain  his 
policy.  Lisseh  began  by  stating  what  has  often  been  said 
since,  and  in  other  countries,  that  "men  of  letters  are,  as  a 
rule,  very  little  acquainted  with  what  concerns  the  govern- 
ment of  a  country,  not  that  government  of  pure  speculation 
which  is  nothing  more  than  a  phantom,  vanishing  the  nearer 
we  approached  to  it,  but  the  practical  government  which 
consists  in  keeping  men  within  the  sphere  of  their  proper 
duties."  He  then  proceeded  to  denounce  the  literary  class 
as  being  hostile  to  the  State,  and  to  recommend  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  works,  declaring  that  "now  is  the  time  or  never 
to  close  the  mouths  of  these  secret  enemies  and  to  place  a 
curb  on  their  audacity."  The  emperor  at  once  from  his 
throne  ratified  the  policy  and  ordered  that  no  time  should  be 
lost  in  executing  the  necessary  measures.  All  books  were 
proscribed,  and  orders  were  issued  to  burn  every  work  except 
those  relating  to  medicine,  agriculture,  and  such  science  as 
then  existed.  The  destruction  of  the  national  literature  was 
carried  out  with  terrible  completeness,  and  such  works  as 
were  preserved  are  not  free  from  the  suspicion  of  being 
garbled  or  incomplete  versions  of  their  original  text.  The 
burning  of  the  books  was  accompanied  by  the  execution  of 
five  hundred  of  the  literati,  and  by  the  banishment  of  many 
thousands.  By  this  sweeping  measure,  to  which  no  parallel 
is  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  other  countries,  Hwangti 
silenced  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  the  criticisms 
of  his  chief  enemies,  but  in  revenge  his  memory  has  had  to 
bear  for  two  thousand  years  the  sully  of  an  inexcusable  act 


THE    EARLY   AGES.  23 

of  tyranny  and  narrow-mindedness.  The  price  will  be  pro- 
nounced too  heavy  for  what  was  a  momentary  gratification. 

The  reign  of  Hwangti  was  not  prolonged  many  years 
after  the  burning  of  the  books.  In  210  B.C.  he  was  seized 
with  a  serious  illness,  to  which  he  succumbed,  partly  because 
he  took  no  precautions,  and  partly,  no  doubt,  through  the 
incompetence  of  his  physicians.  His  funeral  was  magnifi- 
cent, and,  like  the  Huns,  his  grave  was  dug  in  the  bed  of  a 
river,  and  with  him  were  buried  his  wives  and  his  treas- 
ure. This  great  ruler  left  behind  him  an  example  of  vigor 
such  as  is  seldom  found  in  the  list  of  Chinese  kings  of  effete 
physique  and  apathetic  life.  He  is  the  only  Chinese  emperor 
of  whom  it  is  said  that  his  favorite  exercise  was  walking, 
and  his  vigor  was  apparent  in  every  department  of  State. 
On  one  occasion  when  he  placed  a  large  army  of,  it  is  said, 
600,000  men  at  the  disposal  of  one  of  his  generals,  the  com- 
mander expressed  some  fear  as  to  how  this  huge  force  was 
to  be  fed.  Hwangti  at  once  replied,  "Leave  it  to  me.  I 
will  provide  for  everything.  There  shall  be  want  rather  in 
my  palace  than  in  your  camp."  He  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  a  great  general  himself,  but  he  knew  how  to  select  the 
best  commanders,  and  he  was  also  so  quick  in  discovering 
the  merits  of  the  generals  opposed  to  him,  that  some  of  his 
most  notable  victories  were  obtained  by  his  skill  in  detaching 
them  from  their  service  or  by  ruining  their  reputation  by 
some  intrigue  more  astute  than  honorable.  Yet,  all  deduc- 
tions made,  Tsin  Chi  Hwangti  stands  forth  as  a  great  ruler 
and  remarkable  man. 

The  Tsin  dynasty  only  survived  its  founder  a  few  years. 
Hwangti's  son  Eulchi  became  emperor,  but  he  reigned  no 
more  than  three  years.  He  was  foolish  enough  to  get  rid 
of  the  general  Moungtien,  who  might  have  been  the  buttress 
of  his  throne ;  and  the  minister  Lisseh  was  poisoned,  either 
with  or  without  his  connivance.  Eulchi  himself  shared  the 
same  fate,  and  his  successor,  Ing  "Wang,  reigned  only  six 
weeks,  committing  suicide  after  losing  a  battle,  and  with 
him  the  Tsin  dynasty  came  to  an  end.     Its  chief,  nay  its 


X*  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

only  claim  to  distinction,  arises  from  its  having  produced 
the  great  ruler  Hwangti,  and  its  destiny  was  Napoleonic  in 
its  brilliance  and  evanescence. 

Looking  back  at  the  long  period  which  connects  the 
mythical  age  with  what  may  be  considered  the  distinctly 
historical  epoch  of  the  Tsins,  we  find  that  by  the  close  of 
the  third  century  before  the  Christian  era  China  possessed 
settled  institutions,  the  most  remarkable  portion  of  its  still 
existing  literature,  and  mighty  rulers.  It  is  hardly  open  to 
doubt  that  the  Chinese  annalist  finds  in  these  remote  ages 
as  much  interest  and  instruction  as  we  should  in  the  record 
of  more  recent  times,  and  proof  of  this  may  be  discovered 
in  the  fact  that  the  history  of  the  first  four  dynasties,  which 
we  must  dismiss  in  these  few  pages,  occupies  as  much  space 
in  the  national  history  as  the  chronicle  of  events  from  Tsm 
Chi  Hwangti  to  the  end  of  the  Ming  dynasty  in  1644,  at 
which  date  the  official  history  of  China  stops,  because  the 
history  of  the  Manchu  dynasty,  which  has  occupied  the 
throne  ever  since,  will  only  be  given  to  the  world  after  it 
has  ceased  to  rule.  We  must  not  be  surprised  at  this  dis- 
cursiveness, because  the  teachings  of  human  experience  are 
as  clearly  marked  in  those  early  times  as  they  have  been 
since,  and  Chinese  historians  aim  as  much  at  establishing 
moral  and  philosophical  truths  as  at  giving  a  complete  rec- 
ord of  events.  The  consequences  of  human  folly  and  in- 
competence are  as  patent  and  conspicuous  in  those  days  as 
they  are  now.  The  ruling  power  is  lost  by  one  family  and 
transferred  to  another  because  the  prince  neglects  his  busi- 
ness, gives  himself  over  to  the  indulgence  of  pleasure,  or 
fails  to  see  the  signs  of  the  times.  Cowardice  and  cor- 
ruption receive  their  due  and  inevitable  punishment.  The 
founders  of  the  dynasties  are  all  brave  and  successful  war- 
riors, who  are  superior  to  the  cant  of  a  hypercivilized  state 
of  society,  which  covers  declining  vigor  and  marks  the  first 
phase  of  effeteness,  and  who  see  that  as  long  as  there  are 
human  passions  they  may  be  molded  by  genius  to  make  the 
many  serve  the  few  and  to  build  up  an  autocracy.     Nor  are 


THE  FIRST  NATIONAL   DYNASTY.  26 

the  lessons  to  be  learned  from  history  applicable  only  to  in- 
dividuals. The  faults  of  an  emperor  are  felt  in  every  house- 
hold of  the  community,  and  injure  the  State.  Indifference 
and  obtuseness  at  the  capital  entailed  weakness  on  the  fron- 
tier and  in  the  provincial  capitals.  The  barbarians  grew 
defiant  and  aggressive,  and  defeated  the  imperial  forces. 
The  provincial  governors  asserted  their  independence,  and 
founded  ruling  families.  The  empire  became  attenuated  by 
external  attack  and  internal  division.  But,  to  use  the  phrase 
of  the  Chinese  historians,  "after  long  abiding  disunion,  union 
revived."  The  strong  and  capable  man  always  appears  in 
one  form  or  another,  and  the  Chinese  people,  impressed  with 
a  belief  in  both  the  divine  mission  of  their  emperor  and  also 
in  the  value  of  union,  welcome  with  acclaim  the  advent  of 
the  prince  who  will  restore  their  favorite  and  ideal  system 
of  one-man  government.  The  time  is  still  hidden  in  a  far- 
distant  and  undiscoverable  future  when  it  will  be  otherwise, 
and  when  the  Chinese  will  be  drawn  away  from  their  con- 
sistent and  ancient  practice  to  pursue  the  ignis  fatuus  of 
European  politics  that  seeks  to  combine  human  equality 
with  good  practical  government  and  national  security.  The 
Chinese  have  another  and  more  attainable  ideal,  nor  is  there 
any  likelihood  of  their  changing  it.  The  fall  of  dynasties 
may,  needs  must,  continue  in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature, 
but  in  China  it  will  not  pave  the  way  to  a  republic.  The 
imperial  authority  will  rise  triumphant  after  every  struggle 
above  the  storm. 


CHAPTER  II 

THB    FIRST    NATIONAL    DYNASTY 

As  the  Chinese  are  still  proud  to  call  themselves  the  sons 
of  Han,  it  will  be  understood  that  the  period  covered  by  the 
Han  rulers  must  be  an  important  epoch  in  their  history,  and 
in  more  than  one  respect  they  were  the  first  national  dynasty. 
When  the  successors  of  Tsin  Chi  Hwangti  proved  unable  to 

2 


556  A   SHORT   HISTORY    Ot*  OHINA. 

keep  the  throne,  the  victorious  general  who  profited  by  their 
discomfiture  was  named  Liu  Pang.  He  had  been  a  trusted 
official  of  the  Emperor  Hwangti,  but  on  finding  that  his 
descendants  could  not  bear  the  burden  of  government,  he 
Tesolved  to  take  his  own  measures,  and  he  lost  no  time  in 
collecting  troops  and  in  making  a  bid  for  popularity  by 
endeavoring  to  save  all  the  books  that  had  not  been  burned. 
His  career  bears  some  resemblance  to  that  of  Macbeth,  for 
a  soothsayer  meeting  him  on  the  road  predicted,  "by  the 
expression  of  his  features,  that  he  was  destined  to  become 
emperor."  He  began  his  struggle  for  the  throne  by  defeat- 
ing another  general  named  Pawang,  who  was  also  disposed 
to  make  a  bid  for  supreme  power.  After  this  success  Liu 
Pang  was  proclaimed  emperor  as  Kao  Hwangti,  meaning 
Lofty  and  August  Emperor,  which  has  been  shortened  into 
Kaotsou.  He  named  his  dynasty  the  Han,  after  the  small 
state  in  which  he  was  born. 

Kaotsou  began  his  reign  by  a  public  proclamation  in  favor 
of  peace,  and  deploring  the  evils  which  follow  in  the  train  of 
war.  He  called  upon  his  subjects  to  aid  his  efforts  for  their 
welfare  by  assisting  in  the  execution  of  many  works  of  public 
utility,  among  which  roads  and  bridges  occupied  the  fore- 
most place.  He  removed  hi&  capital  from  Loyang  in  Honan 
to  Singanfoo  in  Shensi,  and  as  Singan  was  difficult  of  access 
in  those  days,  he  constructed  a  great  highroad  from  the  cen- 
ter of  China  to  this  somewhat  remote  spot  on  the  western 
frontier.  This  road  still  exists,  and  has  been  described  by 
several  travelers  in  our  time.  It  was  constructed  by  the 
labor  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  through  the  most  diffi- 
cult country,  crossing  great  mountain  chains  and  broad 
rivers.  The  Chinese  engineers  employed  on  the  making  of 
this  road,  which  has  excited  the  admiration  of  all  who  have 
traversed  it,  first  discovered  and  carried  into  execution  the 
suspension  bridge,  which  in  Europe  is  quite  a  modern  inven- 
tion. One  of  these  "flying  bridges,"  as  the  Chinese  called 
them,  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  across  a  valley  five 
hundred  feet  below,  and  is  still  in  use.     At  regular  intervals 


THE   FIRST   NATIONAL   DYNASTY.  27 

along  this  road  Kaotsou  constructed  rest-houses  for  travel- 
ers, and  postal-stations  for  his  couriers.  No  Chinese  ruler 
has  done  anything  more  useful  or  remarkable  than  this  ad- 
mirable road  from  Loyang  to  Singanfoo.  He  embellished 
his  new  capital  with  many  fine  buildings,  among  which  was 
a  large  palace,  the  grandeur  of  which  was  intended  to  corre- 
spond with  the  extent  of  his  power. 

The  reign  of  Kaotsou  was,  however,  far  from  being  one 
of  uncheckered  prosperity.  Among  his  own  subjects  his  pop- 
ularity was  great  because  he  promoted  commerce  and  im- 
proved the  administration  of  justice.  He  also  encouraged 
literature,  and  was  the  first  ruler  to  recognize  the  claims  of 
Confucius,  at  whose  tomb  he  performed  an  elaborate  cere- 
mony. He  thus  acquired  a  reputation  which  induced  the 
King  of  Nanhai — a  state  composed  of  the  southern  provinces 
of  China,  with  its  capital  at  or  near  the  modern  Canton — to 
tender  his  allegiance.  But  he  was  destined  to  receive  many- 
slights  and  injuries  at  the  hands  of  a  foreign  enemy,  who  at 
this  time  began  a  course  of  active  aggression  that  entailed 
serious  consequences  for  both  China  and  Europe. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  Hiongnou  or  Hun  tribes, 
against  whom  Tsin  Hwangti  built  the  Great  "Wall.  In  the 
interval  between  the  death  of  that  ruler  and  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  power  of  Kaotsou,  a  remarkable  chief  named 
Meha,  or  Meta,  had  established  his  supremacy  among  the 
disunited  clans  of  the  Mongolian  Desert,  and  had  succeeded 
in  combining  for  purposes  of  war  the  whole  fighting  force 
of  what  had  been  a  disjointed  and  barbarous  confederacy. 
The  Chinese  rulers  had  succeeded  in  keeping  back  this  threat- 
ening torrent  from  overflowing  the  fertile  plains  of  their  coun- 
try, as  much  by  sowing  dissension  among  these  clans  and  by 
bribing  one  chief  to  fight  another,  as  by  superior  arms.  But 
Meha's  success  rendered  this  system  of  defense  no  longer 
possible,  and  the  desert  chieftain,  realizing  the  opportunity 
of  spoil  and  conquest,  determined  to  make  his  position  secure 
by  invading  China.  If  the  enterprise  had  failed,  there  would 
have  been  an  end  to  the  paramounce  of  Meha,  but  his  rapid 


28  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

success  convinced  the  Huns  that  their  proper  and  most  profit- 
able policy  was  to  carry  on  implacable  war  with  their  weak 
and  wealthy  neighbors.  Meha's  success  was  so  great  that 
in  a  single  campaign  he  recovered  all  the  districts  taken  from 
the  Tartars  by  the  general  Moungtien.  He  turned  the  west- 
ern angle  of  the  Great  "Wall,  and  brought  down  his  frontier 
to  the  river  Hoangho.  His  light  cavalry  raided  past  the 
Chinese  capital  into  the  province  of  Szchuen,  and  returned 
laden  with  the  spoil  of  countless  cities.  These  successes  were 
crowned  by  a  signal  victory  over  the  emperor  in  person. 
Koatsou  was  drawn  into  an  ambuscade  in  which  his  troops 
had  no  chance  with  their  more  active  adversaries,  and,  to 
save  himself  from  capture,  Kaotsou  had  no  alternative  but 
to  take  refuge  in  the  town  of  Pingching,  where  he  was 
closely  beleaguered.  It  was  impossible  to  defend  the  town 
for  any  length  of  time,  and  the  capture  of  Kaotsou  seemed 
inevitable,  when  recourse  was  had  to  a  stratagem.  The 
most  beautiful  Chinese  maiden  was  sent  as  a  present  to 
propitiate  the  conqueror,  and  Meha,  either  mollified  by  the 
compliment,  or  deeming  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by 
driving  the  Chinese  to  desperation,  acquiesced  in  a  conven- 
tion which,  while  it  sealed  the  ignominious  defeat  of  the 
Chinese,  rescued  their  sovereign  from  his  predicament. 

This  disaster,  and  his  narrow  personal  escape,  seem  to 
have  unnerved  Kaotsou,  for  when  the  Huns  resumed  their 
incursions  in  the  very  year  following  the  Pingching  conven- 
tion, he  took  no  steps  to  oppose  them,  and  contented  himself 
with  denouncing  in  his  palace  Meha  as  "a  wicked  and  faith- 
less man,  who  had  risen  to  power  by  the  murder  of  his 
father,  and  one  with  whom  oaths  and  treaties  carried  no 
weight."  Notwithstanding  this  opinion,  Kaotsou  proceeded 
to  negotiate  with  Meha  as  an  equal,  and  gave  this  barbarian 
prince  his  own  daughter  in  marriage  as  the  price  of  his  ab- 
staining from  further  attacks  on  the  empire.  Never,  wrote 
a  historian,  "was  so  great  a  shame  inflicted  on  the  Middle 
Kingdom,  which  then  lost  its  dignity  and  honor."  Meha 
observed  this  peace  during  the  life  of  Kaotsou,  who  found 


THE   FIRST   NATIONAL    DYNASTY.  29 

that  his  reputation  was  much  diminished  by  his  coming  to 
terms  with  his  uncivilized  opponent,  but  although  several  of 
his  generals  rebelled,  until  it  was  said  that  "the  very  name 
of  revolt  inspired  Kaotsou  with  apprehension,"  he  succeeded 
in  overcoming  them  all  without  serious  difficulty.  His 
troubles  probably  shortened  his  life,  for  he  died  when  he 
was  only  fifty-three,  leaving  the  crown  to  his  son,  Hoeiti, 
and  injunctions  to  his  widow,  Liuchi,  as  to  the  conduct  of 
the  administration. 

The  brief  reign  of  Hoeiti  is  only  remarkable  for  the  rigor 
and  terrible  acts  of  his  mother,  the  Empress  Liuchi,  who  is 
the  first  woman  mentioned  in  Chinese  history  as  taking  a 
supreme  part  in  public  affairs.  Another  of  Kaotsou 's  wid- 
ows aspired  to  the  throne  for  her  son,  and  the  chief  direction 
for  herself.  Liuchi  nipped  their  plotting  in  the  bud  by  poi- 
soning both  of  them.  She  marked  out  those  who  differed 
from  her,  or  who  resented  her  taking  the  most  prominent 
part  in  public  ceremonies,  as  her  enemies,  to  be  removed 
from  her  path  by  any  means.  At  a  banquet  she  endeav- 
ored to  poison  one  of  the  greatest  princes  of  the  empire,  but 
her  plot  was  detected  and  baffled  by  her  son.  It  is  perhaps 
not  surprising  that  Hoeiti  did  not  live  long  after  this  episode, 
and  then  Liuchi  ruled  in  her  own  name,  and  without  filling 
up  the  vacancy  on  the  throne,  until  the  public  dissatisfaction 
warned  her  that  she  was  going  too  far.  She  then  adopted  a 
supposititious  child  as  her  grandson  and  governed  as  regent 
In  his  name.  The  mother  of  this  youth  seems  to  have  made 
inconvenient  demands  on  the  empress,  who  promptly  put  her 
out  of  the  way,  and  when  the  son  showed  a  disposition  to 
resent  this  action,  she  caused  him  to  be  poisoned.  She 
again  ruled  without  a  puppet  emperor,  hoping  to  retain 
power  by  placing  her  relatives  in  the  principal  offices;  but 
the  dissatisfaction  had  now  reached  an  acute  point,  and 
threatened  to  destroy  her.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  she 
would  have  surmounted  these  difficulties  and  dangers,  when 
death  suddenly  cut  short  her  adventurous  career.  The  pop- 
ular legend  is  that  this  Chinese  Lucretia  Borgia  died  of 


30  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

fright  at  seeing  the  apparitions  of  her  many  victims,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  her  crimes  did  not  conduce  to 
make  woman  government  more  popular  in  China. 

It  says  much  for  the  excellence  of  Kaotsou's  work,  and 
for  the  hold  the  Han  family  had  obtained  on  the  Chinese 
people,  that  when  it  became  necessary  to  select  an  emperor 
after  the  death  of  Liuchi  the  choice  should  have  fallen  unan- 
imously on  the  Prince  of  Tai,  who  was  the  illegitimate  son 
of  Kaotsou.  On  mounting  the  throne,  he  took  the  name  of 
Wenti.  He  began  his  reign  by  remitting  taxes  and  by  ap- 
pointing able  and  honest  governors  and  judges.  He  ordered 
that  all  old  men  should  be  provided  with  corn,  meat  and 
wine,  besides  silk  and  cotton  for  their  garments.  At  the 
suggestion  of  his  ministers,  who  were  alive  to  the  dangers 
of  a  disputed  succession,  he  proclaimed  his  eldest  son  heir  to 
the  throne.  He  purified  the  administration  of  justice  by  de- 
claring that  prince  and  peasant  must  be  equally  subject  to 
the  law;  he  abolished  the  too  common  punishment  of  mutila- 
tion, and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  crime  reduced  to  such 
low  proportions  in  the  empire  that  the  jails  contained  only 
four  hundred  prisoners.  Wenti  was  a  strong  advocate  of 
peace,  which  was,  indeed,  necessary  to  China,  as  it  had  not 
recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  last  Hun  invasion.  He  suc- 
ceeded by  diplomacy  in  inducing  the  Prince  at  Canton,  who 
had  shown  a  disposition  to  assert  his  independence,  to  recog- 
nize his  authority,  and  thus  averted  a  civil  war.  In  his  re- 
lations with  the  Huns,  among  whom  the  authority  of  Meha 
had  passed  to  his  son,  Lao  Chang,  he  strove  to  preserve  the 
peace,  giving  that  chief  one  of  his  daughters  in  marriage,  and 
showing  moderation  in  face  of  much  provocation.  "When  war 
was  forced  upon  him  by  their  raids  he  did  everything  he  could 
to  mitigate  its  terrors,  but  the  ill  success  of  his  troops  in  their 
encounters  with  the  Tartars  broke  his  confidence,  and  he  died 
prematurely  after  a  reign  of  twenty -three  years,  which  was 
remarkable  as  witnessing  the  consolidation  of  the  Hans.  The 
good  work  of  Wenti  was  continued  during  the  peaceful  reign 
of  sixteen  years  of  his  son  Kingti. 


THE   FIRST   NATIONAL    DYNASTY.  31 

The  next  emperor  was  Vouti,  a  younger  son  of  Kingti, 
and  one  of  his  earliest  conquests  was  to  add  the  difficult  and 
inaccessible  province  of  Fuhkien  to  the  empire.  He  also 
endeavored  to  propitiate  the  Huns  by  giving  their  chief  one 
of  the  princesses  of  his  family  as  a  wife,  but  the  opinion  was 
gaining  ground  that  it  would  be  better  to  engage  in  a  wax' 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  national  enemy  than  to  purchase 
a  hollow  peace.  "Wang  Kua,  a  general  who  had  commanded 
on  the  frontier,  and  who  knew  the  Hun  mode  of  warfare, 
represented  that  success  would  be  certain,  and  at  last  gained 
the  emperor's  ear.  Vouti  decided  on  war,  and  raised  a  large 
army  for  the  purpose.  But  the  result  was  not  auspicious. 
Wang  Kua  failed  to  bring  the  Huns  to  an  engagement,  and 
the  campaign  which  was  to  produce  such  great  results  ended 
ingloriously.  The  unlucky  general  who  had  promised  so 
much  anticipated  his  master's  displeasure  by  committing 
suicide.  Unfortunately  for  himself,  his  idea  of  engaging 
in  a  mortal  struggle  with  the  Tartars  gained  ground,  and 
became  in  time  the  fixed  policy  of  China.  Notwithstanding 
this  check,  the  authority  of  Vouti  continued  to  expand.  He 
annexed  Szchuen,  a  province  exceeding  in  size  and  popula- 
tion most  European  states,  and  he  received  from  the  ruler 
of  Manchuria  a  formal  tender  of  submission.  In  the  last 
years  of  his  reign  the  irrepressible  Hun  question  again  came 
up  for  discussion,  and  the  episode  of  the  flight  of  the  Yuchi 
from  Kansuh  affords  a  break  in  the  monotony  of  the  strug- 
gle, and  is  the  first  instance  of  that  western  movement  which 
brought  the  tribes  of  the  Gobi  Desert  into  Europe.  The 
Yuchi  are  believed  to  have  been  allied  with  the  Jats  of  India, 
and  there  is  little  or  no  doubt  that  the  Sacse,  or  Scythians, 
were  their  descendants.  They  occupied  a  strip  of  territory 
in  Kansuh  from  Shachow  to  Lanchefoo,  and  after  suffering 
much  at  the  hands  of  the  Huns  under  Meha,  they  resolved 
to  seek  a  fresh  home  in  the  unknown  regions  of  Western 
Asia.  The  Emperor  Vouti  wished  to  bring  them  back,  and 
he  sent  an  envoy  named  Chang  Keen  to  induce  them  to  re- 
turn.    That  officer  discovered  them  in  the  Oxus  region,  but 


32  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

all  his  arguments  failed  to  incline  them  to  leave  a  quarter 
in  which  they  had  recovered  power  and  prosperity.  Pow- 
erless against  the  Huns,  they  had  more  than  held  their  own 
against  the  Parthians  and  the  Greek  kingdom  of  Bactria. 
They  retained  their  predominant  position  in  what  is  now 
Bokhara  and  Balkh,  until  they  were  gathered  up  by  the 
Huns  in  their  western  march,  and  hurled,  in  conjunction 
with  them,  on  the  borders  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

Meantime,  the  war  with  the  Huns  themselves  entered 
upon  a  new  phase.  A  general  named  Wei  Tsing  obtained 
a  signal  victory  over  them,  capturing  15,000  prisoners  and 
the  spoil  of  the  Tartar  camp.  This  success  restored  long- 
lost  confidence  to  the  Chinese  troops,  and  it  was  followed  by 
several  other  victories.  One  Chinese  expedition,  composed 
entirely  of  cavalry,  marched  through  the  Hun  country  to 
Soponomo  on  the  Tian  Shan,  carrying  everything  before  it 
and  returning  laden  with  spoil,  including  some  of  the  golden 
images  of  the  Hun  religion.  Encouraged  by  these  successes, 
Vouti  at  last  took  the  field  in  person,  and  sent  a  formal  sum- 
mons to  the  Tartar  king  to  make  his  submission  to  China. 
His  reply  was  to  imprison  the  bearer  of  the  message,  and  to 
defy  the  emperor  to  do  his  worst.  This  boldness'  had  the 
effect  of  deterring  the  emperor  from  his  enterprise.  He 
employed  his  troops  in  conquering  Yunnan  and  Leaoutung 
instead  of  in  waging  another  war  with  the  Huns.  But  he 
had  only  postponed,  not  abandoned,  his  intention  of  over- 
throwing, once  and  for  all,  this  most  troublesome  and  for- 
midable national  enemy.  He  raised  an  enormous  force  for 
the  campaign,  which  might  have  proved  successful  but 
for  the  mistake  of  intrusting  the  command  to  an  incompe- 
tent general.  In  an  ill-advised  moment,  he  gave  his  brother- 
in-law,  Li  Kwangli,  the  supreme  direction  of  the  war.  His 
incompetence  entailed  a  succession  of  disasters,  and  the  only 
redeeming  point  amid  them  was  that  Li  Kwangli  was  taken 
prisoner  and  rendered  incapable  of  further  mischief.  Liling, 
the  grandson  of  this  general,  was  intrusted  with  a  fresh 
army  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  the  war;    but,  although 


THE    FIRST   NATIONAL    DYNASTY.  33 

successful  at  first,  he  was  outmaneuvered,  and  reduced  to 
the  unpleasant  pass  of  surrendering  to  the  enemy.  Both  Li 
Kwangli  and  Liling  adapted  themselves  to  circumstances, 
and  took  service  under  the  Tartar  chief.  As  this  conduct 
obtained  the  approval  of  the  historian  Ssematsien,  it  is  clear 
that  our  views  of  such  a  proceeding  would  not  be  in  harmony 
with  the  opinion  in  China  of  that  day.  The  long  war  which 
Vouti  waged  with  the  Huns  for  half  a  century,  and  which 
was  certainly  carried  on  in  a  more  honorable  and  successful 
manner  than  any  previous  portion  of  that  historic  struggle, 
closed  with  discomfiture  and  defeat,  which  dashed  to  the 
ground  the  emperor's  hopes  of  a  complete  triumph  over  the 
most  formidable  national  enemy. 

After  a  reign  of  fifty-four  years,  which  must  be  pro- 
nounced glorious,  Vouti  died,  amid  greater  troubles  and 
anxieties  than  any  that  had  beset  him  during  his  long  reign. 
He  was  unquestionably  a  great  ruler.  He  added  several 
provinces  to  his  empire,  and  the  success  he  met  with  over  the 
Huns  was  far  from  being  inconsiderable.  He  was  a  Nimrod 
among  the  Chinese,  and  his  principal  enjoyment  was  to 
chase  the  wildest  animals  without  any  attendants.  Like 
many  other  Chinese  princes,  Vouti  was  prone  to  believe  in 
the  possibility  of  prolonging  human  life,  or,  as  the  Chinese 
put  it,  in  the  draught  of  immortality.  In  connection  with 
this  weakness  an  anecdote  is  preserved  that  will  bear  telling. 
A  magician  offered  the  emperor  a  glass  containing  the  pre- 
tended elixir  of  eternal  life,  and  Vouti  was  about  to  drink  it 
when  a  courtier  snatched  it  from  his  hand  and  drained  the 
gcblet.  The  enraged  monarch  ordered  him  to  prepare  for 
instant  death,  but  the  ready  courtier  at  once  replied,  "How 
can  I  be  executed,  since  I  have  drunk  the  draught  of  immor- 
tality?" To  so  convincing  an  argument  no  reply  was  pos- 
sible, and  Vouti  lived  to  a  considerable  age  without  the  aid 
of  magicians  or  quack  medicines.  Of  him  also  it  may  be 
said  that  he  added  to  the  stability  of  the  Han  dynasty,  and 
he  left  the  throne  to  Chaoti,  the  youngest  of  his  sons,  a 
ohild  of  eight,  for  whom  he  appointed  his  two  most  experi- 


84  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

enced  ministers  to  act  as  governors.  As  these  ministers  were 
true  to  their  duty,  the  interregnum  did  not  affect  the  fort- 
unes of  the  State  adversely,  and  several  claimants  to  the 
throne  paid  for  their  ambition  with  their  lives.  The  reign 
of  Chaoti  was  prosperous  and  successful,  but,  unfortunately, 
he  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-one,  and  without  leaving 
an  heir. 

After  some  hesitation,  Chaoti's  uncle  Liucho  was  pro- 
claimed emperor,  but  he  proved  to  be  a  boor  with  low  tastes, 
whose  sole  idea  of  power  was  the  license  to  indulge  in  coarse 
amusements.  The  chief  minister,  Ho  Kwang,  took  upon 
himself  the  responsibility  of  deposing  him,  and  also  of  plac- 
ing on  the  throne  Siuenti,  who  was  the  great-grandson,  or, 
according  to  another  account,  the  grandson,  of  Vouti.  The 
choice  was  a  fortunate  one,  and  "Ho  Kwang  gave  all  his 
care  to  perfecting  the  new  emperor  in  the  science  of  govern- 
ment. "  As  a  knowledge  of  his  connection  with  the  Imperial 
family  had  been  carefully  kept  from  him,  Siuenti  was 
brought  from  a  very  humble  sphere  to  direct  the  destinies 
of  the  Chinese,  and  his  greater  energy  and  more  practical 
disposition  were  probably  due  to  his  not  having  been  bred  in 
the  enervating  atmosphere  of  a  palace.  He,  too,  was  brought 
at  an  early  stage  of  his  career  face  to  face  with  the  Tartar 
question,  and  he  had  what  may  be  pronounced  a  unique  ex- 
perience in  his  wars  with  them.  He  sent  several  armies 
under  commanders  of  reputation  to  wage  war  on  them,  and 
the  generals  duly  returned,  reporting  decisive  and  easily 
obtained  victories.  The  truth  soon  leaked  out.  The  vic- 
tories were  quite  imaginary.  The  generals  had  never  ven- 
tured to  face  the  Tartars,  and  they  were  given  no  option  by 
their  enraged  and  disappointed  master  but  to  poison  them- 
selves. Other  generals  were  appointed,  and  the  Tartars 
were  induced  to  sue  for  peace,  partly  from  fear  of  the  Chi- 
nese, and  partly  because  they  were  disunited  among  them- 
selves. Such  was  the  reputation  of  Siuenti  for  justice  that 
several  of  the  Tartar  chiefs  carried  their  grievances  to  the 
foot  of  his  throne,  and  his  army  became  known  as  "the 


THE    FIRST   NATIONAL    DYNASTY.  35 

troops  of  justice."  It  is  said  that  all  the  tribes  and  countries 
of  Central  Asia  as  far  west  as  the  Caspian  sent  him  tribute, 
and"  to  celebrate  the  event  he  built  a  kilin  or  pavilion,  in 
which  he  placed  statues  of  all  the  generals  who  had  contrib- 
uted toward  his  triumph.  Only  one  incident  marred  the 
tranquillity  of  Siuenti's  reign.  The  great  statesman,  Ho 
Kwang,  had  sunk  quietly  into  private  life  as  soon  as  he 
found  the  emperor  capable  of  governing  for  himself ;  but  his 
wife  Hohien  was  more  ambitious  and  less  satisfied  with  her 
position,  although  she  had  effected  a  marriage  between  her 
daughter  and  Siuenti.  This  lady  was  only  one  of  the  queens 
of  the  ruler,  and  not  the  empress.  Hohien,  to  further  her 
ends,  determined  to  poison  the  empress,  and  succeeded  only 
too  well.  Her  guilt  would  have  been  divulged  by  the  doctor 
she  employed,  but  that  Ho  Kwang,  by  an  exercise  of  his 
authority,  prevented  the  application  of  torture  to  him  when 
thrown  into  prison.  This  narrow  escape  from  detection  did 
not  keep  Hohien  from  crime.  She  had  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  her  daughter  proclaimed  empress,  but  her  gratifica- 
tion was  diminished  by  the  son  of  the  murdered  Hiuchi  being 
selected  as  heir  to  the  throne.  Hohien  resolved  to  poison 
this  prince,  but  her  design  was  discovered,  and  she  and  all 
the  members  of  her  family  were  ordered  to  take  poison.  The 
minister,  Ho  Kwang,  had  taken  no  part  in  these  plots,  which, 
however,  injured  his  reputation,  and  his  statue  in  the  Im- 
perial pavilion  was  left  without  a  name. 

Siuenti  did  not  long  survive  these  events,  and  Yuenti,  the 
son  of  Hiuchi,  became  emperor.  His  reign  of  sixteen  years 
presents  no  features  of  interest  beyond  the  signal  overthrow 
of  the  Tartar  chief,  Chichi,  whose  head  was  sent  by  the  vic- 
torious general  to  be  hung  on  the  walls  of  Singan.  Yuenti 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Chingti,  who  reigned  twenty-six 
years,  and  who  gained  the  reputation  of  a  Chinese  Vitellius. 
His  nephew  Gaiti,  who  was  the  next  emperor,  showed  him- 
self an  able  and  well-intentioned  prince,  but  his  reign  of  six 
years  was  too  brief  to  allow  of  any  permanent  work  being 
accomplished.     One  measure  of  his  was  not  without  its  influ- 


36  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

ence  on  the  fate  of  his  successors.  He  had  disgraced  and 
dismissed  from  the  service  an  official  named  Wang  Mang, 
who  had  attained  great  power  and  influence  under  Chingti. 
The  ambition  of  this  individual  proved  fatal  to  the  dynasty. 
On  Gaiti's  death  he  emerged  from  his  retirement,  and,  in 
conjunction  with  that  prince's  mother,  seized  the  govern- 
ment. They  placed  a  child,  grandson  of  Yuenti,  on  the 
throne,  and  gave  him  the  name  of  Pingti,  or  the  Peace- 
ful Emperor,  but  he  never  governed.  Before  Pingti  was 
fourteen,  Wang  Mang  resolved  to  get  rid  of  him,  and  he 
gave  him  the  poisoned  cup  with  his  own  hands.  This  was 
not  the  only,  or  perhaps  the  worst,  crime  that  Wang  Mang 
perpetrated  to  gain  the  throne.  Pressed  for  money  to  pay 
his  troops,  he  committed  the  sacrilege  of  stripping  the  graves 
of  the  princes  of  the  Han  family  of  the  jewels  deposited  in 
them.  One  more  puppet  prince  was  placed  on  the  throne, 
but  he  was  soon  got  rid  of,  and  Wang  Mang  proclaimed 
himself  emperor.  He  also  decreed  that  the  Han  dynasty 
was  extinct,  and  that  his  family  should  be  known  as  the  Sin. 
Wang  Mang  the  usurper  was  certainly  a  capable  adminis- 
trator, but  in  seizing  the  throne  he  had  attempted  a  task  to 
which  he  was  unequal.  As  long  as  he  was  minister  or 
regent,  respect  and  regard  for  the  Han  family  prevented 
many  from  revolting  against  his  tyranny,  but  when  he  seized 
the  throne  he  became  the  mark  of  popular  indignation  and 
official  jealousy.  The  Huns  resumed  their  incursions,  and, 
curiously  enough,  put  forward  a  proclamation  demanding 
the  restoration  of  the  Hans.  Internal  enemies  sprang  up  on 
every  side,  and  Wang  Mang's  attempt  to  terrify  them  by 
severity  and  wholesale  executions  only  aggravated  the  situa- 
tion. It  became  clear  that  the  struggle  was  to  be  one  to  the 
death,  but  this  fact  did  not  assist  Wang  Mang,  who  saw  his 
resources  gradually  reduced  and  his  enemies  more  confident 
as  the  contest  continued.  After  twelve  years'  fighting, 
Wang  Mang  was  besieged  at  Singan.  The  city  was  soon 
carried  by  storm,  and  Wang  Mang  retired  to  the  palace  to 
put  an  end  to  his  existence.     But  his  heart  failed  him,  and 


THE  FIRST   NATIONAL   DYNASTY.  37 

He  was  cut  down  by  the  foe.  His  last  exclamation  and  the 
dirge  of  his  short-lived  dynasty,  which  is  denied  a  place  in 
Chinese  history,  was,  "If  Heaven  had  given  me  courage, 
what  could  the  family  of  the  Hans  have  done?" 

The  eldest  of  the  surviving  Han  princes,  Liu  Hiuen,  was 
placed  on  the  throne,  and  the  capital  was  removed  from 
Singan  to  Loyang,  or  Honan.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  popular  among  the  Chinese  people  than  the  restoration 
of  the  Hans.  It  is  said  that  the  old  men  cried  for  joy  when 
they  saw  the  banner  of  the  Hans  again  waving  over  the 
palace  and  in  the  field.  But  Liu  Hiuen  was  not  a  good 
ruler,  and  there  might  have  been  reason  to  regret  the  change 
if  he  had  not  wisely  left  the  conduct  of  affairs  to  his  able 
cousin,  Liu  Sieou.  At  last  the  army  declared  that  Liu  Sieou 
should  be  emperor,  and  when  Liu  Hiuen  attempted  to  form 
a  faction  of  his  own  he  was  murdered  by  Fanchong,  the 
leader  of  a  confederacy  known  as  the  Crimson  Eyebrows, 
on  whose  co-operation  he  counted.  The  Crimson  Eyebrows 
were  so  called  from  the  distinguishing  mark  which  they  had 
adopted  when  first  organized  as  a  protest  against  the  tyranny 
of  "Wang  Mang.  At  first  they  were  patriots,  but  they  soon 
became  brigands.  After  murdering  the  emperor,  Fanchong, 
their  leader,  threw  off  all  disguise,  and  seizing  Singan,  gave 
it  over  to  his  followers  to  plunder.  Liu  Sieou,  on  becoming 
emperor,  took  the  style  of  Kwang  Vouti,  and  his  first  task 
was  to  overthrow  the  Crimson  Eyebrows,  who  had  become 
a  public  enemy.  He  intrusted  the  command  of  the  army  he 
raised  for  this  purpose  to  Fongy,  who  justified  his  reputation 
as  the  most  skillful  Chinese  general  of  his  day  by  gaining 
several  victories  over  a  more  numerous  adversary.  Within 
two  years  Kwang  Vouti  had  the  satisfaction  of  breaking  up 
the  formidable  faction  known  as  the  Crimson  Eyebrows,  and 
of  holding  its  leader  Fanchong  as  a  prisoner  in  his  capital. 

Kwang  Vouti  was  engaged  for  many  more  years  in  sub- 
duing the  numerous  potentates  who  had  repudiated  the 
imperial  authority.  His  efforts  were  invariably  crowned 
with  success,  but  he  acquired  so  great  a  distaste  for  war 


88  A   SHORT   HISTORY    OF    CHINA. 

that  it  is  said  when  his  son  asked  him  to  explain  how  an  army 
was  set  in  battle  array  he  refused  to  reply.  But  the  love  of 
peace  will  not  avert  war  when  a  State  has  turbulent  or  am- 
bitious neighbors  who  are  resolved  to  appeal  to  arms,  and  so 
Kwang  Vouti  was  engaged  in  almost  constant  hostilities  to 
the  end  of  his  days.  Chingtse,  the  Queen  of  Kaochi,  which 
may  be  identified  with  the  modern  Annam,  defied  the  Chi- 
nese, and  defeated  the  first  army  sent  to  bring  her  to  reason. 
This  reverse  necessitated  a  still  greater  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  Chinese  ruler  to  bring  his  neighbor  to  her  senses.  The 
occupant  of  the  Dragon  throne  could  not  sit  down  tamely 
under  a  defeat  inflicted  by  a  woman,  and  an  experienced 
general  named  Mayuen  was  sent  to  punish  the  Queen  of 
Kaochi.  The  Boadicea  of  Annam  made  a  valiant  defense, 
but  she  was  overthrown,  and  glad  to  purchase  peace  by 
making  the  humblest  submission.  The  same  general  more 
than  held  his  own  on  the  northern  and  northwest  frontiers. 
When  Kwang  Vouti  died,  in  a.d.  57,  after  a  brilliant  reign 
of  thirty-three  years,  he  had  firmly  established  the  Han 
dynasty,  and  he  left  behind  him  the  reputation  of  being 
both  a  brave  and  a  just  prince. 

His  son  and  successor,  Mingti,  was  not  unworthy  of  his 
father.  His  acts  were  characterized  by  wisdom  and  clem- 
ency, and  the  country  enjoyed  a  large  measure  of  peace 
through  the  policy  of  Mingti  and  his  father.  A  general 
named  Panchow,  who  was  perhaps  the  greatest  military 
commander  China  ever  produced,  began  his  long  and  re- 
markable career  in  this  reign,  and,  without  the  semblance 
of  an  effort,  kept  the  Huns  in  order,  and  maintained  the 
imperial  authority  over  them.  Among  other  great  and  im- 
portant works,  Mingti  constructed  a  dike,  thirty  miles  long, 
for  the  relief  of  the  Hoangho,  and  the  French  missionary 
and  writer,  Du  Halde,  states  that  so  long  as  this  was  kept 
in  repair  there  were  no  floods.  The  most  remarkable  event 
of  Mingti's  reign  was  undoubtedly  the  official  introduction 
of  Buddhism  into  China.  Some  knowledge  of  the  great 
Indian  religion  and  of  the  teacher  Sakya  Muni  seems  to 


THE   FIRST  NATIONAL    DYNASTY.  3© 

have  reached  China  through  either  Tibet,  or,  more  prob- 
ably, Burma,  but  it  was  not  until  Mingti,  in  consequence 
of  a  dream,  sent  envoys  to  India  to  study  Buddhism,  that 
its  doctrine  became  known  in  China.  Under  tb ,  direct 
patronage  of  the  emperor  it  made  rapid  progress,  and  al- 
though never  unreservedly  popular,  it  has  held  its  ground 
ever  since  its  introduction  in  the  first  century  of  our  era, 
and  is  now  inextricably  intertwined  with  the  religion  of  the 
Chinese  state  and  people.  Mingti  died  after  a  successful 
reign  of  eighteen  years  in  75  a.d.  His  son,  Changti,  with 
the  aid  of  his  mother,  Machi,  the  daughter  of  the  general 
Mayuen,  enjoyed  a  peaceful  reign  of  thirteen  years,  and 
died  at  an  early  age  lamented  by  his  sorrowing  people. 

After  Changti  came  his  son,  Hoti,  who  was  only  ten  at 
the  time  of  his  accession,  and  who  re"gned  for  seventeen 
years.  He  was  a  virtuous  and  well-intentioned  prince,  who 
instituted  many  internal  reforms,  and  during  his  reign  a 
new  writing  paper  was  invented,  which  is  supposed  to  have 
been  identical  with  the  papyrus  of  Egypt.  But  the  reign 
of  Hoti  is  rendered  illustrious  by  the  remarkable  military 
achievements  of  Panchow.  The  success  of  that  general  in 
his  operations  with  the  Huns  has  already  been  referred  to, 
and  he  at  last  formed  a  deliberate  plan  for  driving  them 
away  from  the  Chinese  frontier.  Although  he  enjoyed  tbr 
confidence  of  his  successive  sovereigns,  the  imperial  sanction 
was  long  withheld  from  this  vast  scheme,  but  during  the  life 
of  Changti  he  began  to  put  in  operation  measures  for  the 
realization  of  this  project  that  were  only  matured  under 
Hoti.  He  raised  and  trained  a  special  army  for  frontier 
war.  He  enlisted  tribes  who  had  never  served  the  emperor 
before,  and  who  were  specially  qualified  for  desert  warfare. 
He  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Sienpi  tribes  of  Manchuria, 
who  ware  probably  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Manchus, 
and  thus  arranged  for  a  flank  attack  on  the  Huns.  This 
systematic  attack  was  crowned  with  success.  The  pres- 
sure brought  against  them  compelled  the  Hiongnou  to  give 
way,  and  as  they  were  ousted  from  their  possessions,  to 


40  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

seek  fresh  homes  further  west.  In  this  they  were,  no 
doubt,  stimulated  by  the  example  of  their  old  opponents, 
the  Yuchi,  but  Panchow's  energy  supplied  a  still  more  con- 
vincing argument.  He  pursued  them  wherever  they  went, 
across  the  Gobi  Desert  and  beyond  the  Tian  Shan  range, 
taking  up  a  strong  position  at  modern  Kuldja  and  Kashgar, 
sending  his  expeditions  on  to  the  Pamir,  and  preparing  to 
complete  his  triumph  by  the  invasion  of  the  countries  of  the 
Oxus  and  Jaxartes.  When  Hoti  was  still  a  youth,  he  com- 
pleted this  programme  by  overrunning  the  region  as  far  as 
the  Caspian,  which  was  probably  at  that  time  connected  with 
the  Aral,  and  it  may  be  supposed  that  Khiva  marked  the 
limit  of  the  Chinese  general's  triumphant  progress.  It  is 
affirmed  with  more  or  less  show  of  truth  that  he  came  into 
contact  with  the  Roman  empire  or  the  great  Thsin,  as  the 
Chinese  called  it,  and  that  he  wished  to  establish  commer- 
cial relations  with  it.  But  however  uncertain  this  may  be, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  inflicted  a  most  material  in- 
jury on  Rome,  for  before  his  legions  fled  the  Huns,  who, 
less  than  four  centuries  later,  debased  the  majesty  of  the 
imperial  city,  and  whose  leader,  Attila,  may  have  been  a 
descendant  of  that  Meha  at  whose  hands  the  Chinese  suf- 
fered so  severely. 

After  this  brilliant  and  memorable  war,  Panchow  re- 
turned to  China,  where  he  died  at  the  great  age  of  eighty. 
With  him  disappeared  the  good  fortune  of  the  Han  dynasty, 
and  misfortunes  fell  rapidly  on  the  family  that  had  gov- 
erned China  so  long  and  so  well.  Hoti's  infant  son  lived 
only  a  few  months,  and  then  his  brother,  Ganti,  became 
emperor.  The  real  power  rested  in  the  hands  of  the  widow 
of  Hoti,  who  was  elevated  to  the  post  of  regent.  Ganti  was 
succeeded  in  a.d.  124  by  his  son,  Chunti,  in  whose  time 
several  rebellions  occurred,  threatening  the  extinction  of  the 
dynasty.  Several  children  were  then  elevated  to  the  throne, 
and  at  last  an  ambitious  noble  named  Leangki,  whose  sister 
was  one  of  the  empresses,  acquired  the  supreme  direction  of 
affairs.     He  gave  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  but  at  last,  finding 


THE  FIRST  NATIONAL   DYNASTY.  41 

that  his  ambitious  schemes  did  not  prosper,  he  took  poison, 
thus  anticipating  a  decree  passed  for  his  execution.  H  wanti, 
the  emperor  who  had  the  courage  to  punish  this  powerful 
noble,  was  the  last  able  ruler  of  the  Hans.  His  reign  was, 
on  the  whole,  a  brilliant  one,  and  the  Sienpi  tribes,  who  had 
taken  the  place  of  the  Hiongnou,  were,  after  one  arduous 
campaign,  defeated  in  a  pitched  battle.  The  Chinese  were  on 
the  verge  of  defeat  when  their  general,  Twan  Kang,  rushed 
to  the  front,  exclaiming:  "Recall  to  your  minds  how  often 
before  you  have  beaten  these  same  opponents,  and  teach 
them  again  to-day  that  in  you  they  have  their  masters." 
After  Hwanti's  death  the  decline  of  the  Hans  was  rapid. 
They  produced  no  other  ruler  worthy  of  the  throne.  In  the 
palace  the  eunuchs,  always  numerous  at  the  Chinese  court, 
obtained  the  upper  hand,  and  appointed  their  own  creatures 
to  the  great  governing  posts.  Fortunately  this  dissension  at 
the  capital  was  not  attended  by  weakness  on  the  frontier, 
and  the  Sienpi  were  again  defeated.  The  battle  is  chiefly 
memorable  because  the  Sienpi  endeavored  to  frighten  the 
Chinese  genera]  by  threatening  to  kill  his  mother,  who  was 
a  prisoner  in  their  hands,  if  he  attacked.  Not  deterred  by 
this  menace,  Chow  Pow  attacked  the  enemy,  and  gained  a 
decisive  victory,  but  at  the  cost  of  his  mother's  Kfe,  which  so 
affected  him  that  he  died  of  grief  shortly  afterward.  After 
some  time  dissensions  rose  in  the  Han  family,  and  two  half- 
brothers  claimed  the  throne.  Pienti  became  emperor  by  the 
skillful  support  of  his  uncle,  General  Hotsin,  while  his  rival, 
Hienti,  enjoyed  the  support  of  the  eunuchs.  A  deadly  feud 
ensued  between  the  two  parties,  which  was  aggravated  by 
the  murder  of  Hotsin,  who  rashly  entered  the  palace  without 
an  escort.  His  soldiers  avenged  his  death,  carrying  the  pal- 
ace by  storm  and  putting  ten  thousand  eunuchs  to  the  sword. 
After  this  the  last  emperors  possessed  only  the  name  of  em- 
peror. The  practical  authority  was  disputed  among  several 
generals,  of  whom  Tsow  Tsow  was  the  most  distinguished 
and  successful;  and  he  and  his  son  Tsowpi  founded  a  dy- 
nasty, of  which  more  will  be  heard  hereafter.     In  a.d.  220 


43  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

Hienti,  the  last  Han  ruler,  retired  into  private  life,  thu& 
bringing  to  an  end  the  famous  Han  dynasty,  which  had 
governed  China  for  four  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

Among  the  families  that  have  reigned  in  China  none 
has  obtained  as  high  a  place  in  popular  esteem  as  the  Hans. 
They  rendered  excellent  work  in  consolidating  the  empire 
and  in  carrying  out  what  may  be  called  the  imperial  mis- 
sion of  China.  Yunnan  and  Leaoutung  were  made  prov- 
inces for  the  first  time.  Cochin  China  became  a  vassal 
state.  The  writ  of  the  emperor  ran  as  far  as  the  Pamir. 
The  wealth  and  trade  of  the  country  increased  with  the 
progress  of  its  armies.  Some  of  the  greatest  public  works, 
in  the  shape  of  roads,  bridges,  canals,  and  aqueducts,  were 
constructed  during  this  period,  and  still  remain  to  testify  to 
the  glory  of  the  Hans.  As  has  been  seen,  the  Hans  produced 
several  great  rulers.  Their  fame  was  not  the  creation  of  one 
man  alone,  and  as  a  consequence  the  dynasty  enjoyed  a 
lengthened  existence  equaled  by  few  of  its  predecessors  or 
successors.  No  ruling  family  was  ever  more  popular  with 
the  Chinese  than  this,  and  it  managed  to  retain  the  throne 
when  less  favored  rulers  would  have  expiated  their  mistakes 
and  shortcomings  by  the  loss  of  the  empire.  "With  the  strong 
support  of  the  people,  the  Hans  overcame  innumerable  diffi- 
culties, and  even  the  natural  process  of  decay;  and  when 
they  made  their  final  exit  from  history  it  was  in  a  graceful 
manner,  and  without  the  execration  of  the  masses.  That 
this  feeling  retains  its  force  is  shown  in  the  pride  with  which 
the  Chinese  still  proclaim  themselves  to  be  the  sons  of  Han. 


CHAPTER    III 

▲    LONG     PERIOD    OP    DISUNION 

The  ignominious  failure  of  the  usurper  Wang  Mang  to 
found  a  dynasty  was  too  recent  to  encourage  any  one  to  take 
upon  himself  the  heavy  charge  of  administering  the  whole 


A    LONG    PERIOD    OF   DISUNION.  43 

of  the  Han  empire,  and  so  the  state  was  split  up  into  three 
principalities,  and  the  period  is  known  from  this  fact  as  the 
Sankoue.  Ono  prince,  a  member  of  the  late  ruling  family, 
held  possession  of  Szchuen,  which  was  called  the  principal- 
ity of  Chow.  The  southern  provinces  were  governed  by  a 
general  named  Sunkiuen,  and  called  Ou.  The  central  and 
northern  provinces,  containing  the  greatest  population  and 
resources,  formed  the  principality  of  Wei,  subject  to  Tsowpi, 
the  son  of  Tsow  Tsow.  A  struggle  for  supremacy  very  soon 
began  between  these  princes,  and  the  balance  of  success  grad- 
ually declared  itself  in  favor  of  "Wei.  It  would  serve  no  use- 
ful purpose  to  enumerate  the  battles  which  marked  this  strug- 
gle, yet  one  deed  of  heroism  deserves  mention,  the  defense 
of  Sinching  by  Changte,  an  officer  of  the  Prince  of  Wei. 
The  strength  of  the  place  was  insignificant,  and,  after  a 
siege  of  ninety  days,  several  breaches  had  been  made  in  the 
walls.  In  this  strait  Changte  sent  a  message  to  the  besieg- 
ing general  that  he  would  surrender  on  the  hundredth  day 
if  a  cessation  of  hostilities  were  granted,  "as  it  was  a  law 
among  the  princes  of  Wei  that  the  governor  of  a  place  which 
held  out  for  a  hundred  days  and  then  surrendered,  with  no 
prospect  of  relief  visible,  should  not  be  considered  as  guilty." 
The  respite  was  short  and  it  was  granted.  But  the  disap- 
pointment of  the  besieger,  already  counting  on  success,  was 
great  when  a  few  days  later  he  saw  that  the  breaches  had 
been  repaired,  that  fresh  defenses  had  been  improvised,  and 
that  Sinching  was  in  better  condition  than  ever  to  withstand 
a  siege.  On  sending  to  inquire  the  meaning  of  these  prep- 
arations, Changte  gave  the  following  reply:  "I  am  prepar- 
ing my  tomb  and  to  bury  myself  in  the  ruins  of  Sinching." 
Of  snch  gallantry  and  resource  the  internecine  strife  of  the 
Sankoue  period  presents  few  instances,  but  the  progress  of 
the  struggle  steadily  pointed  in  the  direction  of  the  triumph 
of  Wei. 

The  Chow  dynasty  of  the  Later  Hans  was  the  first  to 
succumb  to  the  princes  of  Wei,  and  the  combined  resources 
of  the  two  states  were  then  directed  against  the  southern 


44  A   SHORT  HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

principality  of  Ou.  The  supreme  authority  in  "Wei  had  be- 
fore this  passed  from  the  family  of  Tsowpi  to  his  best  gen- 
eral, Ssemaohow,  who  had  the  satisfaction  of  beginning  his 
reign  with  the  overthrow  of  the  Chow  dynasty.  If  he  had 
carried  out  the  wishes  of  his  own  commander,  Tengai,  by 
attacking  Ou  at  once,  and  in  the  flush  of  his  triumph  over 
Chow,  he  might  have  completed  his  work  at  a  stroke,  for 
as  Tengai  wrote,  "An  army  which  has  the  reputation  of 
victory  flies  from  one  success  to  another."  But  Ssemachow 
preferred  a  slower  and  surer  mode  of  action,  with  the  result 
that  the  conquest  of  Ou  was  put  off  for  twenty  years.  Ssem- 
achow died  in  a.d.  265,  and  his  son  Ssemachu  founded  the 
new  dynasty  of  the  Later  Tsins  under  the  name  of  Vouti,  or 
the  warrior  prince. 

The  main  object  with  Vouti  was  to  add  the  Ou  principal- 
ity to  his  dominions,  and  the  descendants  of  Sunkiuen  thought 
it  best  to  bend  before  the  storm.  They  sent  humble  embas- 
sies to  Loyang,  expressing  their  loyalty  and  submission,  but 
at  the  same  time  they  made  strenuous  preparations  to  defend 
their  independence.  This  double  policy  precipitated  the  col- 
lision it  was  intended  to  avert.  Vouti  paid  more  heed  to  the 
acts  than  the  promises  of  his  neighbor,  and  he  ordered  the 
invasion  of  his  territory  from  two  sides.  He  placed  a  large 
fleet  of  war  junks  on  the  Vangtsekiang  to  attack  his  oppo- 
nent on  the  Tunting  Lake.  The  campaign  that  ensued  was 
decided  before  it  began.  The  success  of  Vouti  was  morally- 
certain  from  the  beginning,  and  after  his  army  had  suffered 
several  reverses  Sunhow  threw  up  the  struggle  and  surren- 
dered to  his  opponent.  Thus  was  China  again  reunited  for 
a  short  time  under  the  dynasty  of  the  Later  Tsins.  Having 
accomplished  his  main  task,  Vouti  gave  himself  up  to  the 
pursuit  of  pleasure,  and  impaired  the  reputation  he  had 
gained  among  his  somewhat  severe  fellow-countrymen  by 
entertaining  a  theatrical  company  of  five  thousand  female 
comedians,  and  by  allowing  himself  to  be  driven  in  a  car 
drawn  by  sheep  through  the  palace  grounds.  Vouti  lived 
about  ten  years  after  the  unity  of  the  empire  was  restored. 


A    LONG    PERI01    OF  DISUNION.  45 

and  his  son,  Ssemachong,  or  Hweiti,  becune  emperor  on  his 
death  in  A.D.  290.  One  of  the  great  wor  s  of  his  reign  was 
the  bridging  of  the  Hoangho  at  Mongtsi .  t  at  a  point  much 
lower  down  its  course  than  is  bridged  at  the  present  time. 

The  reign  of  Hweiti  was  marred  by  the  ambitious  vin- 
dictiveness  of  his  wife,  Kiachi,  who  murdered  the  principal 
minister  and  imprisoned  the  widow  of  the  Emperor  Vouti. 
The  only  good  service  she  rendered  the  state  was  to  discern 
in  one  of  the  palace  eunuchs  named  Mongkwan  a  great  gen- 
eral, and  his  achievements  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  those 
of  Narses,  who  was  the  only  other  great  commander  of  that 
unfortunate  class  mentioned  in  history.  Wherever  Mong- 
kwan commanded  in  person  victory  attended  his  efforts,  but 
the  defeats  of  the  other  generals  of  the  Tains  neutralized  his 
success.  At  this  moment  there  was  a  recrudescence  of  Tar- 
tar activity  which  proved  more  fatal  to  the  Chinese  ruler 
than  his  many  domestic  enemies.  Some  of  the  Hiongnou 
tribes  had  retired  in  an  easterly  direction  toward  Manchuria 
when  Panchow  drove  the  main  body  westward,  and  among 
them,  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  a  family  named 
Lin  had  gained  the  foremost  place.  They  possessed  all  the 
advantages  of  Chinese  education,  and  had  married  several 
times  into  the  Han  family.  Seeing  the  weakness  of  Hweiti 
these  Lin  chiefs  took  the  title  of  Kings  of  Han,  and  wished 
to  pose  as  the  liberators  of  the  country.  Hweiti  bent  before 
the  storm,  and  would  have  made  an  ignominious  surrender 
but  that  death  saved  him  the  trouble. 

His  brother  and  successor,  Hwaiti,  fared  somewhat  bet- 
ter at  first,  but  notwithstanding  some  flashes  of  success  the 
Lin  Tartars  marched  further  and  further  into  the  country, 
capturing  cities,  defeating  the  best  officers  of  the  Tsins,  and 
threatening  the  capital.  In  a.d.  310  Linsong,  the  Han  chief, 
invaded  China  in  force  and  with  the  full  intention  of  ending 
the  war  at  a  blow.  He  succeeded  in  capturing  Loyang,  and 
carrying  off  Hwaiti  as  his  prisoner.  The  capital  was  pil- 
laged and  the  Prince  Royal  executed.  Hwaiti  is  considered 
the  first  Chinese  emperor  to  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a 


4»  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

foreign  conqueror.  Two  years  after  his  capture,  Hwaitf 
was  compelled  to  wait  on  his  conqueror  at  a  public  banquet, 
and  when  it  was  over  he  was  led  out  to  execution.  This 
foul  murder  illustrates  the  character  of  the  new  race  and 
men  who  aspired  to  rule  over  China.  The  Tartar  100088368 
did  not  end  here,  for  a  few  years  later  they  made  a  fresh 
raid  into  China,  capturing  Hwaiti's  brother  and  successor, 
Mingti,  who  was  executed,  twelve  months  after  his  capture, 
at  Pingyang,  the  capital  of  the  Tartar  Hans. 

After  these  reverses  the  enfeebled  Tsin  rulers  removed 
their  capital  to  Nankin,  but  this  step  alone  would  not  have 
sufficed  to  prolong  their  existence  had  not  the  Lin  princes 
themselves  suffered  from  the  evils  of  disunion  and  been  com- 
pelled to  remove  their  capital  from  Pingyang  to  Singan. 
Here  they  changed  their  name  from  Han  to  Chow,  but  the 
work  of  disintegration  once  begun  proceeded  rapidly,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  few  years  the  Lin  power  crumbled  completely 
away.  Released  from  their  most  pressing  danger  by  the  fall 
of  this  family,  the  Tsin  dynasty  took  a  new  lease  of  life,  but 
it  was  unable  to  derive  any  permanent  advantage  from  this 
fact.  The  last  emperors  of  this  family  were  weak  and  in- 
competent princes,  whose  names  need  not  be  given  outside 
a  chronological  table.  There  would  be  nothing  to  say  about 
them  but  that  a  humble  individual  named  Linyu,  who  owed 
everything  to  himself,  found  in  the  weakness  of  the  govern- 
ment  and  the  confusion  in  the  country  the  opportunity  of 
distinction.  He  proved  himself  a  good  soldier  and  able 
leader  against  the  successors  of  the  Lin  family  on  one  side, 
and  a  formidable  pirate  named  Sunghen  on  the  other.  Dis- 
satisfied with  his  position,  linyu  murdered  one  emperor  and 
placed  another  on  the  throne,  and  in  two  years  he  compelled 
his  puppet,  the  last  of  the  Later  Tains,  to  make  a  formal  ab- 
dication in  his  favor.  For  a  considerable  portion  of  their 
rule  they  governed  the  whole  of  China,  and  it  is  absolutely 
true  to  say  that  they  were  the  least  worthy  family  ever  in- 
trusted with  so  great  a  charge.  Of  the  fifteen  emperors  who 
ruled  for  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  years  there  is  not  more 


A    LONG    PERIOD    OF   DISUNION.  47 

than  the  founder  whose  name  calls  for  preservation  on  his 
own  merits. 

Although  Linyu's  success  was  complete  as  far  as  it  went, 
his  dynasty,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Song,  never  pos- 
sessed exclusive  power  among  the  Chinese.  It  was  only  one 
administration  among  many  others,  and  during  his  brief 
reign  of  three  years  he  could  do  nothing  toward  extending 
his  power  over  his  neighbors,  although  he  may  have  estab- 
lished his  own  the  more  firmly  by  poisoning  the  miserable 
Tsin  emperor  whom  he  deposed.  His  son  and  successor, 
Chowti,  was  deposed  and  murdered  after  a  brief  reign  of 
one  year.  His  brother  "Wenti  succeeded  him,  and  he  was 
soon  drawn  into  a  struggle  for  power,  if  not  existence,  with 
his  northern  neighbor  the  King  of  Wei,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  powerful  potentates  in  the  empire.  The  principal  and 
immediate  bone  of  contention  between  them  was  the  great 
province  of  Honan,  which  had  been  overrun  by  the  Wei 
ruler,  but  which  Wenti  was  resolved  to  recover.  As  the 
Hoangho  divides  this  province  into  two  parts,  it  was  ex- 
tremely difficult  for  the  Wei  ruler  to  defend  the  portion  south 
of  it,  and  when  Wenti  sent  him  his  declaration  of  war,  he 
replied,  "Even  if  your  master  succeeds  in  seizing  this  prov- 
ince I  shall  know  how  to  retake  it  as  soon  as  the  waters  of 
the  Hoangho  are  frozen."  Wenti  succeeded  in  recovering 
Honan,  but  after  a  protracted  campaign,  during  which  the 
Wei  troops  crossed  the  river  on  the  ice,  his  armies  were  again 
expelled  from  it,  and  the  exhausted  combatants  found  them- 
selves at  the  close  of  the  struggle  in  almost  the  same  position 
they  had  held  at  the  commencement.  For  a  time  both  rulers 
devoted  their  attention  to  peaceful  matters,  although  Topa- 
tao,  king  of  Wei,  varied  them  by  a  persecution  of  the  Bud- 
dhists, and  then  the  latter  concentrated  all  his  forces  with 
the  view  of  overwhelming  the  Song  emperor.  When  suc- 
cess seemed  certain,  victory  was  denied  him,  and  the  Wei 
forces  suffered  severely  during  their  retreat  to  their  own 
territory.  This  check  to  his  triumphant  career  injured  his 
reputation  and  encouraged  his  enemies.     A  short  time  after 


48  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

this  campaign,  Topatao  was  murdered  by  some  discontented 
officers. 

Nor  was  the  Song  ruler,  Wenti,  any  more  fortunate,  as 
he  was  murdered  by  his  son.  The  parricide  was  killed  in 
turn  by  a  brother  who  became  the  Emperor  Vouti.  This 
ruler  was  fond  of  the  chase  and  a  great  eater,  but,  on  the 
whole,  he  did  no  harm.  The  next  two  emperors  were  cruel 
and  bloodthirsty  princes,  and  during  their  reigns  the  execu- 
tioner was  constantly  employed.  Two  more  princes,  who 
were,  however,  not  members  of  the  Song  family,  but  only 
adopted  by  the  last  ruler  of  that  house,  occupied  the  throne, 
but  this  weakness  and  unpopularity — for  the  Chinese,  unlike 
the  people  of  India,  scout  the  idea  of  adoption  and  believe 
only  in  the  rights  of  birth — administered  the  finishing  stroke 
to  the  Songs,  who  now  give  place  to  the  Tsi  dynasty,  which 
was  founded  by  a  general  named  Siaotaoching,  who  took  the 
imperial  name  of  Kaoti.  The  change  did  not  bring  any 
improvement  in  the  conditions  of  China,  and  it  was  publicly 
said  that  the  Tsi  family  had  attained  its  pride  of  place  "not 
by  merit,  but  by  force."  The  Tsi  dynasty,  after  a  brief  and 
ignominious  career,  came  to  an  end  in  the  person  of  a  youth- 
ful prince  named  Hoti.  After  his  deposition,  in  a.d.  502, 
his  successful  enemies  ironically  sent  him  in  prison  a  present 
of  gold.  He  exclaimed,  "What  need  have  I  of  gold  after 
my  death?  a  few  glasses  of  wine  would  be  more  valuable." 
They  complied  with  his  wish,  and  while  he  was  drunk  they 
strangled  him  with  his  own  silken  girdle. 

After  the  Tsi  came  the  Leang  dynasty,  another  of  those 
insignificant  and  unworthy  families  which  occupy  the  stage 
of  Chinese  history  during  this  long  period  of  disunion.  The 
new  Emperor  Vouti  was  soon  brought  into  collision  with  the 
state  of  Wei,  which  during  these  years  had  regained  all  its 
power,  and  had  felt  strong  enough  to  transfer  its  capital 
from  the  northern  city  of  Pingching  to  Honan,  while  the 
Leang  capital  remained  at  Nankin.  The  progress  of  this 
contest  was  marked  by  the  consistent  success  of  Wei,  and 
the  prince  of  that  kingdom  seems  to  have  been  as  superior 


A    LONG    PERIOD   OF  DISUNION.  49 

in  the  capacity  of  his  generals  as  in  the  resources  of  his 
state.  One  incident  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  devotion 
which  he  was  able  to  inspire  in  his  officers.  During  the 
absence  of  its  governor,  Vouti  attempted  to  capture  the 
town  of  Ginching,  and  he  would  certainly  have  succeeded 
in  his  object  had  not  Mongchi,  the  wife  of  that  officer,  an- 
ticipating by  many  centuries  the  conduct  of  the  Countess  oi 
Montfort  and  of  the  Countess  of  Derby,  thrown  herself  into 
the  breach,  harangued  the  small  garrison,  and  inspired  it 
with  her  own  indomitable  spirit.  Vouti  was  compelled  to 
make  an  ignominious  retreat  from  before  Ginching,  and  his 
troops  became  so  disheartened  that  they  refused  to  engage 
the  enemy,  notwithstanding  their  taunts  and  their  marching 
round  the  imperial  camp  with  the  head  of  a  dead  person 
decked  out  in  a  widow's  cap  and  singing  a  doggerel  ballad 
to  the  effect  that  none  of  Vouti's  generals  was  to  be  feared. 
In  the  next  campaign  Vouti  was  able  to  restore  his  declining 
fortunes  by  the  timely  discovery  of  a  skillful  general  in  the 
person  of  Weijoui,  who,  taking  advantage  of  the  division  of 
the  Wei  army  into  two  parts  by  a  river,  gained  a  decisive 
vic^ry  over  each  of  them  in  turn.  If  Vouti  had  listened  to 
his  general's  advice,  and  followed  np  this  success,  he  might 
have  achieved  great  and  permanent  results,  but  instead  he 
preferred  to  rest  content  with  his  laurels,  with  the  result 
that  the  Wei  prince  recovered  his  military  power  and  confi- 
dence. The  natural  consequences  of  this  was  that  the  two 
neighbors  once  more  resorted  to  a  trial  of  strength,  and,  not- 
withstanding the  valiant  and  successful  defense  of  a  fortress 
by  another  lady  named  Uuchi,  the  fortune  of  war  declared 
in  the  main  for  Vouti.  This  may  be  considered  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  periods  for  the  display  of  female  capacity 
in  China,  as  the  great  state  of  Wei  was  governed  by  a  queen 
named  Houchi ;  but  the  general  condition  of  the  country  does 
not  support  an  argument  in  favor  of  female  government. 

The  tenure  of  power  by  Houchi  was  summarily  cut  short 
by  the  revolt  of  the  Wei  commander-in-chief,  Erchu  Jong, 
who  got  rid  of  his  mistress  by  tying  her  up  in  a  sack  and 

I 


48  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

this  campaign,  Topatao  was  murdered  by  some  discontented 
officers. 

Nor  was  the  Song  ruler,  Wenti,  any  more  fortunate,  as 
he  was  murdered  by  his  son.  The  parricide  was  killed  in 
turn  by  a  brother  who  became  the  Emperor  Vouti.  This 
ruler  was  fond  of  the  chase  and  a  great  eater,  but,  on  the 
whole,  he  did  no  harm.  The  next  two  emperors  were  cruel 
and  bloodthirsty  princes,  and  during  their  reigns  the  execu- 
tioner was  constantly  employed.  Two  more  princes,  who 
were,  however,  not  members  of  the  Song  family,  but  only 
adopted  by  the  last  ruler  of  that  house,  occupied  the  throne, 
but  this  weakness  and  unpopularity — for  the  Chinese,  unlike 
the  people  of  India,  scout  the  idea  of  adoption  and  believe 
only  in  the  rights  of  birth — administered  the  finishing  stroke 
to  the  Songs,  who  now  give  place  to  the  Tsi  dynasty,  which 
was  founded  by  a  general  named  Siaotaoching,  who  took  the 
imperial  name  of  Kaoti.  The  change  did  not  bring  any 
improvement  in  the  conditions  of  China,  and  it  was  publicly 
said  that  the  Tsi  family  had  attained  its  pride  of  place  "not 
by  merit,  but  by  force."  The  Tsi  dynasty,  after  a  brief  and 
ignominious  career,  came  to  an  end  in  the  person  of  a  youth- 
ful prince  named  Hoti.  After  his  deposition,  in  a.d.  602, 
his  successful  enemies  ironically  sent  him  in  prison  a  present 
of  gold.  He  exclaimed,  "What  need  have  I  of  gold  after 
my  death?  a  few  glasses  of  wine  would  be  more  valuable.*' 
They  complied  with  his  wish,  and  while  he  was  drunk  they 
strangled  him  with  his  own  silken  girdle. 

After  the  Tsi  came  the  Leang  dynasty,  another  of  those 
insignificant  and  unworthy  families  which  occupy  the  stage 
of  Chinese  history  during  this  long  period  of  disunion.  The 
new  Emperor  Vouti  was  soon  brought  into  collision  with  the 
state  of  Wei,  which  during  these  years  had  regained  all  its 
power,  and  had  felt  strong  enough  to  transfer  its  capital 
from  the  northern  city  of  Pingching  to  Honan,  while  the 
Leang  capital  remained  at  Nankin.  The  progress  of  this 
contest  was  marked  by  the  consistent  success  of  Wei,  and 
the  prince  of  that  kingdom  seems  to  have  been  as  superior 


A    LONG    PERIOD   OF  DISUNION.  49 

in  the  capacity  of  his  generals  as  in  the  resources  of  his 
state.  One  incident  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  devotion 
which  he  was  able  to  inspire  in  his  officers.  During  the 
absence  of  its  governor,  Vouti  attempted  to  capture  the 
town  of  Ginching,  and  he  would  certainly  have  succeeded 
in  his  object  had  not  Mongchi,  the  wife  of  that  officer,  an- 
ticipating by  many  centuries  the  conduct  of  the  Countess  oi 
Montf ort  and  of  the  Countess  of  Derby,  thrown  herself  into 
the  breach,  harangued  the  small  garrison,  and  inspired  it 
with  her  own  indomitable  spirit.  Vouti  was  compelled  to 
make  an  ignominious  retreat  from  before  Ginching,  and  his 
troops  became  so  disheartened  that  they  refused  to  engage 
the  enemy,  notwithstanding  their  taunts  and  their  marching 
round  the  imperial  camp  with  the  head  of  a  dead  person 
decked  out  in  a  widow's  cap  and  singing  a  doggerel  baOad 
to  the  effect  that  none  of  Vouti'e  generals  was  to  be  feared. 
In  the  next  campaign  Vouti  was  able  to  restore  his  declining 
fortunes  by  the  timely  discovery  of  a  skillful  general  in  the 
person  of  Weijoui,  who,  taking  advantage  of  the  division  of 
the  Wei  army  into  two  parts  by  a  river,  gained  a  decisive 
victory  over  each  of  them  in  torn.  If  Vouti  had  listened  to 
his  general's  advice,  and  followed  up  this  success,  he  might 
have  achieved  great  and  permanent  results,  but  instead  he 
preferred  to  rest  content  with  his  laurels,  with  the  result 
that  the  Wei  prince  recovered  his  military  power  and  confi- 
dence. The  natural  consequences  of  this  was  that  the  two 
neighbors  once  more  resorted  to  a  trial  of  strength,  and,  not- 
withstanding the  valiant  and  successful  defense  of  a  fortress 
by  another  lady  named  Liuchi,  the  fortune  of  war  declared 
in  the  main  for  Vouti.  This  may  be  considered  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  periods  for  the  display  of  female  capacity 
in  China,  as  the  great  state  of  Wei  was  governed  by  a  queen 
named  Houchi ;  but  the  general  condition  of  the  country  doe» 
not  support  an  argument  in  favor  of  female  government. 

The  tenure  of  power  by  Houchi  was  summarily  cut  short 
by  the  revolt  of  the  Wei  commander-in-chief,  Erchu  Jong, 
who  got  rid  of  his  mistress  by  tying  her  up  in  a  sack  and 

I 


52  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

vigor  which  by  right  belonged  to  it.  The  deposer  of  the 
Souis  was  Liyuen,  who  some  years  before  had  been  given 
the  title  of  Prince  of  Tang.  In  the  year  a.d.  617  he  pro- 
claimed himself  emperor  under  the  style  of  Kaotsou,  and  he 
began  his  reign  in  an  auspicious  manner  by  proclaiming  an 
amnesty  and  by  stating  his  "desire  to  found  his  empire  only 
on  justice  and  humanity."  While  he  devoted  his  attention 
to  the  reorganization  of  the  administration  at  Singan,  which 
he  chose  for  his  capital,  his  second  son,  Lichimin,  was  in- 
trusted with  the  command  of  the  army  in  the  field,  to  which 
was  assigned  the  task  of  subjecting  all  the  provinces.  Lichi- 
min proved  himself  a  great  commander,  and  his  success  was 
both  rapid  and  unqualified.  He  was  equally  victorious  over 
Chinese  rebels  and  foreign  enemies.  His  energy  and  skill 
were  not  more  conspicuous  than  his  courage.  At  the  head 
of  his  chosen  regiment  of  cuirassiers,  carrying  black  tiger 
skins,  he  was  to  be  found  in  the  front  of  every  battle,  and 
victory  was  due  as  often  to  his  personal  intrepidity  as  to  his 
tactical  skill.  Within  a  few  years  the  task  of  Lichimin  was 
brought  to  a  glorious  completion,  and  on  his  return  to  Sin- 
gan he  was  able  to  assure  his  father  that  the  empire  was 
pacified  in  a  sense  that  had  not  been  true  for  many  centu- 
ries. His  entry  into  Singan  at  the  head  of  his  victorious 
troops  reminds  the  reader  of  a  Roman  triumph.  Surrounded 
by  his  chosen  bodyguard,  and  followed  by  forty  thousand 
cavalry,  Lichimin,  wearing  a  breastplate  of  gold  and  accom- 
panied by  the  most  important  of  his  captives,  rode  through 
the  streets  to  make  public  offering  of  thanks  for  victory 
achieved,  at  the  Temple  of  his  ancestors.  His  success  was 
enhanced  by  his  moderation,  for  he  granted  his  prisoners 
their  lives,  and  his  reputation  was  not  dimmed  by  any  acts 
of  cruelty  or  bloodshed. 

The  magnitude  of  Lichimin's  success  and  his  consequent 
popularity  aroused  the  envy  and  hostility  of  his  elder  brother, 
who  aspired  to  the  throne.  The  intrigues  against  him  were 
so  far  successful  that  he  fell  into  disgrace  with  the  emperor, 
and  for  a  time  withdrew  from  the  court.     But  his  brother 


A   LONG   PERIOD    OF  DISUNION.  53 

was  not  content  with  anything  short  of  taking  his  life,  and 
formed  a  conspiracy  with  his  other  brothers  and  some  prom- 
inent officials  to  murder  him.  The  plot  was  discovered,  and 
recoiled  upon  its  authors,  who  were  promptly  arrested  and 
executed.  Then  Lichimin  was  formally  proclaimed  heir  to 
the  throne;  but  the  event  sinks  into  comparative  insignifi- 
cance beside  the  abdication  of  the  throne  by  Kaotsou  in  the 
same  year.  The  real  cause  of  this  step  was  probably  not 
disconnected  with  the  plot  against  Lichimin,  but  the  official 
statement  was  that  Kaotsou  felt  the  weight  of  years,  and 
that  he  wished  to  enjoy  rest  and  the  absence  of  responsibil- 
ity during  his  last  days.  Kaotsou  must  be  classed  among 
the  capable  rulers  of  China,  but  his  fame  has  been  over- 
shadowed by  and  merged  in  the  greater  splendor  of  his  son. 
He  survived  his  abdication  nine  years,  dying  in  A.D.  635  at 
the  age  of  seventy-one. 

On  ascending  the  throne,  Lichimin  took  the  name  of 
Taitsong,  and  he  is  one  of  the  few  Chinese  rulers  to  whom 
the  epithet  of  Great  may  be  given  without  fear  of  its  being 
challenged.  The  noble  task  to  which  he  at  once  set  himself 
was  to  prove  that  the  Chinese  were  one  people,  that  the  in- 
terests of  all  the  provinces,  as  of  all  classes  of  the  commu- 
nity, were  the  same,  and  that  the  pressing  need  of  the  hour 
was  to  revive  the  spirit  of  national  unity  and  patriotism. 
Before  he  became  ruler  in  his  own  name  he  had  accom- 
plished something  toward  this  end  by  the  successful  cam- 
paigns he  had  conducted  to  insure  the  recognition  of  his 
father's  authority.  But  Taitsong  saw  that  much  more  re- 
mained to  be  done,  and  the  best  way  to  do  it  seemed  to  him 
to  be  the  prosecution  of  what  might  be  called  a  national  war 
against  those  enemies  beyond  the  northern  frontier,  who 
were  always  troublesome,  and  who  had  occasionally  founded 
governments  within  the  limits  of  China  like  the  Topa  family 
of  Wei.  In  order  to  achieve  any  great  or  lasting  success  in 
this  enterprise,  Taitsong  saw  that  it  was  essential  that  he 
should  possess  a  large  and  well-trained  standing  army,  on 
which  he  could  rely  for  efficient  service  beyond  the  frontier 


54  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

as  well  as  in  China  itself.  Before  his  time  Chinese  armies 
had  been  little  better  than  a  rude  militia,  and  the  military 
knowledge  of  the  officers  could  only  be  described  as  con- 
temptible. The  soldiers  were,  for  the  most  part,  peasants, 
who  knew  nothing  of  discipline,  and  into  whose  hands  weap- 
ons were  put  for  the  first  time  on  the  eve  of  a  war.  They 
were  not  of  a  martial  temperament,  and  they  went  unwill- 
ingly to  a  campaign ;  and  against  such  active  opponents  as 
the  Tartars  they  would  only  engage  when  superiority  of 
numbers  promised  success.  They  were  easily  seized  with  a 
panic,  and  the  celerity  and  dash  of  Chinese  troops  only  be- 
came perceptible  when  their  backs  were  turned  to  the  foe. 
So  evident  had  these  faults  become  that  more  than  one 
emperor  had  endeavored  to  recruit  from  among  the  Tartar 
tribes,  and  to  oppose  the  national  enemy  with  troops  not  less 
brave  or  active  than  themselves.  But  the  employment  of 
mercenaries  is  always  only  a  half  remedy,  and  not  free  from 
the  risk  of  aggravating  the  evil  it  is  intended  to  cure.  But 
Taitsong  did  not  attempt  any  such  palliation ;  he  went  to  the 
root  of  the  question,  and  determined  to  have  a  trained  and 
efficient  army  of  his  own.  He  raised  a  standing  army  of 
nine  hundred  thousand  men,  which  he  divided  into  three 
equal  classes  of  regiments,  one  containing  one  thousand  two 
hundred  men,  another  one  thousand,  and  the  third  eight 
hundred.  The  total  number  of  regiments  was  eight  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five,  of  which  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  were  recruited  for  home  service  and  two  hundred  and 
sixty-one  for  foreign.  By  this  plan  he  obtained  the  assured 
services  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  trained  troops 
for  operations  beyond  the  frontier.  Taitsong  also  improved 
the  weapons  and  armament  of  his  soldiers.  He  lengthened 
the  pike  and  supplied  a  stronger  bow.  Many  of  his  troops 
wore  armor;  and  he  relied  on  the  co-operation  of  his  cav- 
alry, a  branch  of  military  power  which  has  generally  been 
much  neglected  in  China.  He  took  special  pains  to  train  a 
large  body  of  officers,  and  he  instituted  a  Tribunal  of  War, 
to  which  the  supreme  direction  of  military  matters  was  in- 


A    LONG    PERIOD    OF  DISUNION.  55 

trusted.  As  these  measures  greatly  shocked  the  civil  man- 
darins, who  regarded  the  emperor's  taking  part  in  reviews 
and  the  physical  exercises  of  the  soldiers  as  "an  impropri- 
ety," it  will  be  allowed  that  Taitsong  showed  great  moral 
courage  and  surmounted  some  peculiar  difficulties  in  carry- 
ing out  his  scheme  for  forming  a  regular  army.  He  over- 
came all  obstacles,  and  gathered  under  his  banner  an  army 
formidable  by  reason  of  its  efficiency  and  equipment,  as  well 
as  for  its  numerical  strength. 

Having  acquired  what  he  deemed  the  means  to  settle  it, 
Taitsong  resolved  to  grapple  boldly  with  the  ever-recurring 
danger  from  the  Tartars.  Under  different  names,  but  ever 
with  the  same  object,  the  tribes  of  the  vast  region  from 
Corea  to  Koko  Nor  had  been  a  trouble  to  the  Chinese  agri- 
culturist and  government  from  time  immemorial.  Their  sole 
ambition  and  object  in  life  had  been  to  harry  the  lands  of  the 
Chinese,  and  to  bear  back  to  their  camps  the  spoils  of  cities. 
The  Huns  had  disappeared,  but  in  their  place  had  sprung  up 
the  great  power  of  the  Toukinei  or  Turks,  who  were  probably 
the  ancestors  of  the  Ottomans.  With  these  turbulent  neigh- 
bors, and  with  others  of  different  race  but  of  the  same  dispo- 
sition on  the  southern  frontier,  Taitsong  was  engaged  in  a 
bitter  and  arduous  struggle  during  the  whole  of  his  life ;  and 
there  can  be  little  or  no  doubt  that  he  owed  his  success  to 
the  care  he  bestowed  on  his  army.  The  Great  "Wall  of  Tsin 
Hwangti  had  been  one  barrier  in  the  path  of  these  enemies, 
but,  held  by  a  weak  and  cowardly  garrison,  it  had  proved 
inadequate  for  its  purpose.  Taitsong  supplied  another  and 
a  better  defense  in  a  consistent  and  energetic  policy,  and  in 
the  provision  of  a  formidable  and  confident  army. 

The  necessity  for  this  military  reform  was  clearly  shown 
by  the  experience  of  his  first  campaign  with  these  implacable 
enemies,  when,  in  the  year  of  his  accession  and  before  his 
organization  had  been  completed,  a  horde  of  these  barbarians 
broke  into  the  empire  and  carried  all  before  them,  almost  to 
the  gates  of  the  capital.  On  this  occasion  Taitsong  resorted 
to  diplomacy  and  remonstrance.     He  rode  almost  unattended 


6$  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

to  the  Tartar  camp,  and  reproached  their  chiefs  with  their 
breach  of  faith,  reminding  them  that  on  his  sending  one  of 
his  sisters  to  be  the  bride  of  their  chief  they  had  sworn  by  a 
solemn  oath  to  keep  the  peace.  He  asked:  "Are  these  pro* 
ceedings  worthy,  I  will  not  say  of  princes,  but  of  men  pos- 
sessing the  least  spark  of  honor?  If  they  forget  the  benefits 
they  have  received  from  me,  at  the  least  they  ought  to  be 
mindful  of  their  oaths.  I  had  sworn  a  peace  with  them; 
they  are  now  violating  it,  and  by  that  they  place  the  justice 
of  the  question  on  my  side."  The  Chinese  chroniclers  de- 
clare that  the  Tartars  were  so  impressed  by  Taitsong's 
majestic  air  and  remonstrances  that  they  agreed  to  retire, 
and  fresh  vows  of  friendship  and  peace  were  sworn  over  the 
body  of  a  white  horse  at  a  convention  concluded  on  the  Pien- 
kiao  bridge  across  the  Weichoui  River.  The  only  safe  de- 
duction from  this  figurative  narrative  is  that  there  was  a 
Tartar  incursion,  and  that  the  Chinese  army  did  not  drive 
back  the  invaders.  Their  retreat  was  probably  purchased, 
but  it  was  the  first  and  last  occasion  on  which  Taitsong 
stooped  to  such  a  measure. 

The  peace  of  Pienkiao  was  soon  broken.  The  tribes 
again  drew  their  forces  to  a  head  for  the  purpose  of  invad- 
ing China,  but  before  their,  plans  were  complete  Taitsong 
anticipated  them  by  marching  into  their  territory  at  the  head 
of  a  large  army.  Taken  by  surprise,  the  Tartars  offered  but 
a  feeble  resistance.  Several  of  their  khans  surrendered,  and 
at  a  general  assembly  Taitsong  proclaimed  his  intention  to 
govern  them  as  Khan  of  their  khans,  or  by  the  title  of  Tien 
Khan,  which  means  Celestial  Ruler.  This  was  the  first  occa- 
sion on  which  a  Chinese  ruler  formally  took  over  the  task  of 
governing  the  nomad  tribes  and  of  treating  their  chiefs  as 
his  lieutenants.  Down  to  the  present  day  the  Chinese  em- 
peror continues  to  govern  the  Mongol  and  other  nomadic 
tribes  under  this  very  title,  which  the  Russians  have  ren- 
dered as  Bogdo  Khan.  The  success  of  this  policy  was  com- 
plete, for  not  only  did  it  give  tranquillity  to  the  Chinese 
borders,  but  it  greatly  extended  Chinese  authority.     Kash- 


A    LONG    PERIOD    OF   DISUmOTT.  57 

garia  was  then,  for  the  first  time,  formed  into  a  province 
under  the  name  of  Lonugsi,  and  Lichitsi,  one  of  the  em- 
peror's best  generals,  was  appointed  "Warden  of  the  Western 
Marches.  Some  of  the  most  influential  of  Taitsong's  advisers 
disapproved  of  this  advanced  policy,  and  attempted  to  thwart 
it,  but  in  vain.  Carried  out  with  the  vigor  and  consistency 
of  Taitsong  there  cannot  be  two  opinions  about  its  wisdom 
and  efficacy. 

During  this  reign  the  relations  between  China  and  two  of 
its  neighbors,  Tibet  and  Corea,  were  greatly  developed,  and 
the  increased  intercourse  was  largely  brought  about  by  th°i 
instrumentality  of  war.  The  first  envoys  from  Tibet,  or,  as 
it  was  then  called,  Toufan  or  Toupo,  are  reported  to  hava 
reached  the  Chinese  capital  in  the  year  634.  At  that  time 
the  people  of  Tibet  were  rude  and  unlettered,  and  their  chiefs 
were  little  better  than  savages.  Buddhism  had  not  taken 
that  firm  hold  on  the  popular  mind  which  it  at  present  pos- 
sesses, and  the  power  of  the  lamas  had  not  arisen  in  what 
is  now  the  most  priest-ridden  country  in  the  world.  A  chief, 
named  the  Sanpou — which  means  the  brave  lord — had, 
about  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  made  himself 
supreme  throughout  the  country,  and  it  was  said  that  he 
had  crossed  the  Himalaya  and  carried  his  victorious  arms 
into  Central  India.  Curiosity,  or  the  desire  to  wed  a  Chi- 
nese princess,  and  thus  to  be  placed  on  what  may  be  termed 
a  favored  footing,  induced  the  Sanpou  to  send  his  embassy  to 
Singan ;  but  although  the  envoys  returned  laden  with  pres- 
ents, Taitsong  declined  to  trust  a  princess  of  his  family  in  a 
strange  country  and  among  an  unknown  people.  The  Sanpou 
chose  to  interpret  this  refusal  as  an  insult  to  his  dignity,  and 
he  declared  war  with  China.  But  success  did  not  attend  his 
enterprise,  for  he  was  defeated  in  the  only  battle  of  the  war, 
and  glad  to  purchase  peace  by  paying  five  thousand  ounces 
of  gold  and  acknowledging  himself  a  Chinese  vassal.  The 
Sanpou  also  agreed  to  accept  Chinese  education,  and  as  his 
reward  Taitsong  gave  him  one  of  his  daughters  as  a  wife. 
It  is  stated  that  one  of  his  first  reforms  was  to  abolish  the 


58  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

national  practice  of  painting  the  face,  and  he  also  built  a 
walled  city  to  proclaim  his  glory  as  the  son-in-law  of  the 
Emperor  of  China.  During  Taitsong's  life  there  was  no 
further  trouble  on  the  side  of  Tibet. 

Taitsong  was  not  so  fortunate  in  his  relations  with  Corea, 
where  a  stubborn  people  and  an  inaccessible  country  imposed 
a  bar  to  his  ambition.  Attempts  had  been  made  at  earlier 
periods  to  bring  Corea  under  the  influence  of  the  Chinese 
ruler,  and  to  treat  it  as  a  tributary  state.  A  certain  measure 
of  success  had  occasionaly  attended  these  attempts,  but  on 
the  whole  Corea  had  preserved  its  independence.  When 
Taitsong  in  the  plenitude  of  his  power  called  upon  the  King 
of  Corea  to  pay  tribute,  and  to  return  to  his  subordinate  posi- 
tion, he  received  a  defiant  reply,  and  the  Coreans  began  to 
encroach  on  Sinlo,  a  small  state  which  threw  itself  on  the 
protection  of  China.  The  name  of  Corea  at  this  time  was 
Kaoli,  and  the  supreme  direction  of  affairs  at  this  period 
was  held  by  a  noble  named  Chuen  Gaisoowun,  who  had 
murdered  his  own  sovereign.  Taitsong,  irritated  by  his  defi- 
ance, sent  a  large  army  to  the  frontier,  and  when  Gaisoowun, 
alarmed  by  the  storm  he  had  raised,  made  a  humble  submis- 
sion and  sent  the  proper  tribute,  the  emperor  gave  expression 
to  his  displeasure  and  disapproval  of  the  regicide's  acts  by 
rejecting  his  gifts  and  announcing  his  resolve  to  prosecute 
the  war.  It  is  never  prudent  to  drive  an  opponent  to  des- 
peration, and  Gaisoowun,  who  might  have  been  a  good 
neighbor  if  Taitsong  had  accepted  his  offer,  proved  a  bitter 
and  determined  antagonist.  The  first  campaign  was  marked 
by  the  expected  success  of  the  Chinese  army.  The  Coreans 
were  defeated  in  several  battles,  several  important  towns 
were  captured,  but  Taitsong  had  to  admit  that  these  suc- 
cesses were  purchased  at  the  heavy  loss  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand of  his  best  troops.  The  second  campaign  resolved  itself 
mto  the  siege  and  defense  of  Anshu,  an  important  town  near 
the  Yaloo  River.  Gaisoowun  raised  an  enormous  force  with 
the  view  of  effecting  its  relief,  and  he  attempted  to  over- 
whelm the  Chinese  by  superior  numbers.     But  the  better 


A    LONG    PERIOD    OF   DISUNION.  59 

discipline  and  tactics  of  the  Chinese  turned  the  day,  and  the 
Corean  army  was  driven  in  rout  from  the  field.  But  this 
signal  success  did  not  entail  the  surrender  of  Anshu,  which 
was  gallantly  defended.  The  scarcity  of  supplies  and  the 
approach  of  winter  compelled  the  Chinese  emperor  to  raise 
the  siege  after  he  had  remained  before  the  place  for  several 
months,  and  it  is  stated  that  as  the  Chinese  broke  up  their 
camp  the  commandant  appeared  on  the  walls  and  wished 
them  "a  pleasant  journey."  After  this  rebuff  Taitsong  did 
not  renew  his  attempt  to  annex  Corea,  although  to  the  end 
of  his  life  he  refused  to  hold  any  relations  with  Oaisoowun. 
During  the  first  portion  of  his  reign  Taitsong  was  greatly 
helped  by  the  labors  of  his  wife,  the  Empress  Changsun- 
chi,  who  was  a  woman  of  rare  goodness  and  ability,  and 
set  a  shining  example  to  the  whole  of  her  court.  She  said 
many  wise  things,  among  which  the  most  quotable  was  that 
"the  practice  of  virtue  conferred  honor  upon  men,  especially 
on  princes,  and  not  the  splendor  of  their  appointments.' ' 
She  was  a  patron  of  letters,  and  an  Imperial  Library  and 
College  in  the  capital  owed  their  origin  to  her.  She  was 
probably  the  best  and  most  trustworthy  adviser  the  emperor 
had,  and  after  her  death  the  energy  and  good  fortune  of 
Taitsong  seemed  to  decline.  She  no  doubt  contributed  to 
the  remarkable  treatise  on  the  art  of  government,  called 
the  "Golden  Mirror,"  which  bears  the  name  of  Taitsong  as 
its  author.  Taitsong  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  Confucius, 
whom  he  exalted  to  the  skies  as  the  great  sage  of  the  world, 
declaring  emphatically  that  "Confucius  was  for  the  Chinese 
what  the  water  is  for  the  fishes."  The  Chinese  annalists 
tell  many  stories  of  Taitsong's  personal  courage.  He  was  a 
great  hunter,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  big  game  he  necessarily 
had  some  narrow  escapes,  special  mention  being  made  of  his 
slaying  single-handed  a  savage  boar.  Another  instance  was 
his  struggle  with  a  Tartar  attendant  who  attempted  to  mur- 
der him,  and  whom  he  killed  in  the  encounter.  He  had  a 
still  narrower  escape  at  the  hands  of  his  eldest  son,  who 
formed  a  plot  to  assassinate  him  which  very  nearly  sue- 


60  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

ceeded.  The  excessive  anxiety  of  Prince  Lichingkien  to 
reach  the  crown  cost  him  the  succession,  for  on  the  discovery 
of  his  plot  he  was  deposed  from  the  position  of  heir-apparent 
and  disappeared  from  the  scene. 

After  a  reign  of  twenty-three  years,  during  which  he 
accomplished  a  great  deal  more  than  other  rulers  had  done 
in  twice  the  time,  Taitsong  died  in  a.d.  649,  leaving  the 
undisturbed  possession  of  the  throne  to  his  son,  known  as 
the  Emperor  Kaotsong.  There  need  be  no  hesitation  in  call- 
ing Taitsong  one  of  the  greatest  rulers  who  ever  sat  on  the 
Dragon  Throne,  and  his  death  was  received  with  extraor- 
dinary demonstrations  of  grief  by  the  people  he  had  ruled 
so  well.  Several  of  his  generals  wished  to  commit  suicide 
on  his  bier,  the  representatives  of  the  tributary  nations  at 
his  capital  cut  off  their  hair  or  sprinkled  his  grave  with  their 
blood,  and  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land 
there  was  mourning  and  lamentation  for  a  prince  who  had 
realized  the  ideal  character  of  a  Chinese  emperor.  Nor  does 
his  claim  to  admiration  and  respect  seem  less  after  the  lapse 
of  so  many  centuries.  His  figure  still  stands  out  boldly  as 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  humane  of  all  Chinese  rulers.  He 
not  only  reunited  China,  but  he  proved  that  union  was  for 
his  country  the  only  sure  basis  of  prosperity  and  power. 

Under  Kaotsong  the  power  of  the  Tangs  showed  for  thirty 
years  no  diminution,  and  he  triumphed  in  directions  where 
his  father  had  only  pointed  the  way  to  victory.  He  began 
his  reign  with  a  somewhat  risky  act  by  marrying  one  of  his 
father's  widows,  who  then  became  the  Empress  Wou.  She 
was  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  woman  in  the  whole  range 
of  Chinese  history,  acquiring  such  an  ascendency  over  her 
husband  that  she  practically  ruled  the  state,  and  retained 
this  power  after  his  death.  In  order  to  succeed  in  so  excep- 
tional a  task  she  had  to  show  no  excessive  delicacy  or  scrupu- 
lousness, and  she  began  by  getting  rid  of  the  other  wives, 
including  the  lawful  empress  of  Kaotsong,  in  a  summary 
fashion.  It  is  stated  that  she  cast  them  into  a  vase  filled 
with  wine,  having  previously  cut  off  their  hands  and  feet 


A    LONG    PERIOD    OF   DISUNION.  61 

to  prevent  their  extricating  themselves.  But  on  the  whole 
her  influence  was  exerted  to  promote  the  great  schemes  of 
her  husband. 

The  Tibetan  question  was  revived  by  the  warlike  pro- 
clivities of  the  new  Sanpou,  who,  notwithstanding  his  blood 
relationship  with  the  Chinese  emperor,  sought  to  extend  his 
dominion  at  his  expense  toward  the  north  and  the  east.  A 
desultory  war  ensued,  in  which  the  Chinese  got  the  worst 
of  it,  and  Kaotsong  admitted  that  Tibet  remained  "a  thorn 
in  his  side  for  years."  A  satisfactory  termination  was  given 
to  the  struggle  by  the  early  death  of  the  Sanpou,  whose 
warlike  character  had  been  the  main  cause  of  the  dispute. 
Strangely  enough  the  arms  of  Kaotsong  were  more  triumph- 
ant in  the  direction  of  Corea,  where  his  father  had  failed. 
From  A.D.  658  to  670  China  was  engaged  in  a  bitter  war 
on  land  and  sea  with  the  Coreans  and  their  allies,  the 
Japanese,  who  thus  intervened  for  the  first  time  in  the 
affairs  of  the  continent.  Owing  to  the  energy  of  the  Em- 
press Wou  victory  rested  with  the  Chinese,  and  the  Japa- 
nese navy  of  four  hundred  junks  was  completely  destroyed. 
The  kingdom  of  Sinlo  was  made  a  Chinese  province,  and 
for  sixty  years  the  Coreans  paid  tribute  and  caused  no 
trouble.  In  Central  Asia  also  the  Chinese  power  was  main- 
tained intact,  and  the  extent  of  China's  authority  and  repu- 
tation may  be  inferred  from  the  King  of  Persia  begging  the 
emperor's  governor  in  Kashgar  to  come  to  his  aid  against 
the  Arabs,  who  were  then  in  the  act  of  overrunning  Western 
Asia  in  the  name  of  the  Prophet.  Kaotsong  could  not  send 
aid  to  such  a  distance  from  his  borders,  but  he  granted  shel- 
ter to  several  Persian  princes,  and  on  receiving  an  embassy 
from  the  Arabs,  he  impressed  upon  them  the  wisdom  and 
magnanimity  of  being  lenient  to  the  conquered.  Kaotsong 
died  in  683,  and  the  Empress  Wou  retained  power  until  the 
year  704,  when,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  she  was  compelled  to 
abdicate.  Her  independent  rule  was  marked  by  as  much 
vigor  and  success  as  during  the  life  of  Kaotsong.  She  van- 
quished the  Tibetans  and  a  new  Tartar  race  known  as  the 


62  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

Khitans,  who  appeared  on  the  northern  borders  of  Shensi, 
She  placed  her  son  in  confinement  and  wore  the  robes  as- 
signed for  an  emperor.  The  extent  of  her  power  may  be 
inferred  from  her  venturing  to  shock  Chinese  sentiment  by 
offering  the  annual  imperial  sacrifice  to  heaven,  and  by  her 
erecting  temples  to  her  ancestors.  Yet  it  was  not  until  she 
was  broken  down  by  age  and  illness  that  any  of  her  foes 
were  bold  enough  to  encounter  her.  She  survived  her  dep- 
osition one  year,  and  her  banished  son  Chongtsong  was 
restored  to  the  throne. 

Chongtsong  did  not  reign  long,  being  poisoned  by  his 
wife,  who  did  not  reap  the  advantage  of  her  crime.  Several 
emperors  succeeded  without  doing  anything  to  attract  notice, 
and  then  Mingti  brought  both  his  own  family  and  the  Chinese 
empire  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  Like  other  rulers,  he  began 
well,  quoting  the  maxims  of  the  "Golden  Mirror"  and  pro- 
claiming Confucius  King  of  Literature.  But  defeats  at  the 
hands  of  the  Khitans  and  Tibetans  imbittered  his  life  and 
diminished  his  authority.  A  soldier  of  fortune  named  Gan- 
lochan  revolted  and  met  with  a  rapid  and  unexpected  success 
owing  to  "the  people  being  unaccustomed,  from  the  long 
peace,  to  the  use  of  arms."  He  subdued  all  the  northern 
provinces,  established  his  capital  at  Loyang,  and  compelled 
Mingti  to  seek  safety  in  Szchuen,  when  he  abdicated  in  favor 
of  his  son.  The  misfortunes  of  Mingti,  whose  most  memor- 
able act  was  the  founding  of  the  celebrated  Hanlin  College 
and  the  institution  of  the  "Pekin  Gazette,"  the  oldest  period- 
ical in  the  world,  both  of  which  exist  at  the  present  day,  fore- 
told the  disruption  of  the  empire  at  no  remote  date.  His  son 
and  successor  Soutsong  did  something  to  retrieve  the  fort- 
unes of  his  family,  and  he  recovered  Singan  from  Ganlochan. 
The  empire  was  then  divided  between  the  two  rivals,  and 
war  continued  unceasingly  between  them.  The  successful 
defense  of  Taiyuen,  where  artillery  is  said  to  have  been  used 
for  the  first  time,  a.d.  757,  by  a  lieutenant  of  the  Emperor 
Soutsong,  consolidated  his  power,  which  was  further  in- 
creased by  the  murder  of   Ganlochan  shortly    afterward. 


A    LONG    PERIOD    OF   DISUNION.  03 

The  struggle  continued  with  varying  fortune  between  the 
northern  and  southern  powers  during  the  rest  of  the  reign 
of  Soutsong,  and  also  during  that  of  his  successor,  Taitsong 
the  Second.  This  ruler  showed  himself  unworthy  of  his 
name,  abandoning  his  capital  with  great  pusillanimity  when 
a  sm^ill  Tibetan  army  advanced  upon  it.  The  census  returns 
threw  an  expressive  light  on  the  condition  of  the  empire  dur- 
ing this  period.  Under  Mingti  the  population  was  given  at 
fifty-two  million ;  in  the  time  of  the  second  Taitsong  it  had 
sunk  to  seventeen  million.  A  great  general  named  Kwo 
Tsey,  who  had  driven  back  the  Tibetan  invaders,  enabled 
Tetsong,  the  son  and  successor  of  Taitsong,  to  make  a  good 
start  in  the  government  of  his  dominion,  which  was  sadly 
reduced  in  extent  and  prosperity.  This  great  statesman  in- 
duced Tetsong  to  issue  an  edict  reproving  the  superstitions 
of  the  times,  and  the  prevalent  fashion  of  drawing  auguries 
from  dreams  and  accidents.  The  edict  ran  thus:  "Peace 
and  the  general  contentment  of  the  people,  the  abundance 
of  the  harvest,  skill  and  wisdom  shown  in  the  administra- 
tion, these  are  prognostics  which  I  hear  of  with  pleasure; 
but  'extraordinary  clouds/  'rare  animals,*  'plants  before 
unknown,'  'monsters,'  and  other  astonishing  productions 
of  nature,  what  good  can  any  of  these  do  men  as  auguries  of 
the  future?  I  forbid  such  things  to  be  brought  to  my  notice. " 
The  early  death  of  Kwo  Tsey  deprived  the  youthful  ruler  of 
his  best  adviser  and  the  mainstay  of  his  power.  He  was  a 
man  of  magnificent  capacity  and  devotion  to  duty,  and  when 
it  was  suggested  to  him  that  he  should  not  be  content  with 
any  but  the  supreme  place,  he  proudly  replied  that  he  was 
"a  general  of  the  Tangs."  It  seems  from  the  inscription  on 
the  stone  found  at  Singan  that  he  was  a  patron  of  the  Nesto- 
rian  Christians,  and  his  character  and  career  have  suggested 
a  comparison  with  Belisarius. 

Tetsong  lived  twenty-four  years  after  the  death  of  his 
champion,  and  these  years  can  only  be  characterized  as  un- 
fortunate. The  great  governors  claimed  and  exacted  the 
privilege  that  their  dignities  should  be  made  hereditary,  and 


64  A    SHORT  HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

this  surrender  of  the  imperial  prerogative  entailed  the  usual 
deterioration  of  the  central  power  which  preceded  a  change 
of  dynasty.  Unpopularity  was  incurred  by  the  imposition 
of  taxes  on  the  principal  articles  of  production  and  consump- 
tion, such  as  tea,  and,  worst  symptom  of  all,  the  eunuchs 
again  became  supreme  in  the  palace.  Although  the  dynasty 
survived  for  another  century,  it  was  clear  that  its  knell  was 
sounded  before  Tetsong  died.  Under  his  grandson  Hient- 
song  the  mischief  that  had  been  done  became  more  clearly 
apparent.  Although  he  enjoyed  some  military  successes, 
his  reign  on  the  whole  was  unfortunate,  and  he  was  poisoned 
by  the  chief,  of  the  eunuchs.  His  son  and  successor,  Mout- 
song,  from  his  indifference  may  be  suspected  of  having  been 
privy  to  the  occurrence.  At  any  rate,  he  only  enjoyed  power 
for  a  few  years  before  he  was  got  rid  of  in  the  same  sum- 
mary fashion.  Several  other  nonentities  came  to  the  throne, 
until  at  last  one  ruler  named  Wentsong,  whose  intentions 
at  least  were  stronger  than  those  of  his  predecessors,  at- 
tempted to  grapple  with  the  eunuchs  and  formed  a  plot  for 
their  extermination.  His  courage  failed  him  and  the  plot 
miscarried.  The  eunuchs  exacted  a  terrible  revenge  on  their 
opponents,  of  whom  they  killed  nearly  three  thousand,  and 
Wentsong  passed  the  last  year  of  his  life  as  a  miserable  pup- 
pet in  their  hands.  He  was  not  allowed  even  to  name  his 
successor.  The  eunuchs  ignored  his  two  sons,  and  placed 
his  brother  Voutsong  on  the  throne. 

The  evils  of  the  day  became  specially  revealed  during 
the  reign  of  Ytsong,  who  was  scarcely  seated  on  the  throne 
before  his  troops  suffered  several  defeats  at  the  hands  of  a 
rebel  prince  in  Yunnan,  who  completely  wrested  that  prov- 
ince from  the  empire.  He  was  as  pronounced  a  patron  of 
Buddhism  as  some  of  his  predecessors  had  been  oppressors, 
and  he  sent,  at  enormous  expense,  to  India  a  mission  to  pro- 
cure a  bone  of  Buddha's  body,  and  on  its  arrival  he  received 
the  relic  on  bended  knees  before  his  whole  court.  His  ex- 
travagance of  living  landed  the  Chinese  government  in  fresh 
difficulties,  and  he  brought  the  exchequer  to  the  verge  of 


A    LONG    PERIOD    OF   DISUNION.  65 

bankruptcy.  Nor  was  he  a  humane  ruler.  On  one  occac 
sion  he  executed  twenty  doctors  because  they  were  unable 
to  cure  a  favorite  daughter  of  his.  His  son  Hitsong  came 
to  the  throne  when  he  was  a  mere  boy,  and  at  once  experi- 
enced the  depth  of  misfortune  to  which  his  family  had  sunk. 
He  was  driven  out  of  his  capital  by  a  rebel  named  Hwang 
Chao,  and  if  he  had  Dot  found  an  unexpected  ally  in  the 
Turk  chief  Likeyong,  there  would  then  have  been  an  end 
to  the  Tang  dynasty.  This  chief  of  the  Chato  immigrants 
— a  race  supposed  to  be  the  ancestors  of  the  Mohammedan 
Tungani  of  more  recent  times — at  the  head  of  forty  thou- 
sand men  of  his  own  race,  who,  from  the  color  of  their  uni- 
form, were  named  "The  Black  Crows,"  marched  against 
Hwang  Chao,  and  signally  defeated  him.  The  condition  of 
the  country  at  this  time  is  painted  in  deplorable  colors.  The 
emperor  did  not  possess  a  palace,  and  all  the  great  towns  of 
Central  China  were  in  ruins.  Likeyong  took  in  the  situa- 
tion at  a  glance,  when  he  said,  "The  ruin  of  the  Tangs  is 
not  far  distant."  Likeyong,  who  was  created  Prince  of 
Tsin,  did  his  best  to  support  the  emperor,  but  his  power  was 
inadequate  for  coping  with  another  general  named  Chuwen, 
prince  of  Leang,  in  whose  hands  the  emperor  became  a  mere 
puppet.  At  the  safe  moment  Chuwen  murdered  his  sov- 
ereign, and  added  to  this  crime  a  massacre  of  all  the  Tang 
princes  upon  whom  he  could  lay  his  hands.  Chao  Siuenti, 
the  last  of  the  Tangs,  abdicated,  and  a  few  months  later 
Chuwen,  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  assassinated  him. 
Thus  disappeared,  after  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine  years 
and  after  giving  twenty  rulers  to  the  state,  the  great  Tang 
dynasty  which  had  restored  the  unity  and  the  fame  of  China. 
It  forms  a  separate  chapter  in  the  long  period  of  disunion 
from  the  fall  of  the  Hans  to  the  rise  of  the  Sungs. 

After  the  Tangs  came  five  ephemeral  and  insignificant 
dynasties,  with  the  fate  of  which  we  need  not  long  detain 
the  reader.  In  less  than  sixty  years  they  all  vanished  from 
the  page  of  history.  The  struggle  for  power  between  Chu- 
wen, the  founder  of  the  so-called  Later  Leang  dynasty,  and 


66  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

Likeyong  was  successfully  continued  by  the  latter's  son, 
Litsunhiu,  who  proved  himself  a  good  soldier.  He  won  a 
decisive  victory  at  Houlieoupi,  and  extinguished  the  Leang 
dynasty  by  the  capture  of  its  capital  and  of  Chuwen's  son, 
who  committed  suicide.  Litsunhiu  ruled  for  a  short  time 
as  emperor  of  the  Later  Leangs,  but  he  was  killed  during 
a  mutiny  of  his  turbulent  soldiers.  This  dynasty  had  a  very 
brief  existence ;  the  last  ruler  of  the  line,  finding  the  game 
was  up,  retired  with  his  family  to  a  tower  in  his  palace, 
which  he  set  on  fire,  and  perished,  with  his  wives  and  chil- 
dren, in  the  flames.  Then  came  the  Later  Tsins,  who  only 
held  their  authority  on  the  sufferance  of  the  powerful  Khitan 
king,  who  reigned  over  Leaoutung  and  Manchuria.  The 
fourth  and  fifth  of  these  dynasties,  named  the  Later  Hans 
and  Chows,  ran  their  course  in  less  than  ten  years;  and 
when  the  last  of  these  petty  rulers  was  deposed  by  his  prime 
minister  a  termination  was  at  last  reached  to  the  long  period 
of  internal  division  and  weakness  which  prevailed  for  more 
than  seven  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  student  reaches 
at  this  point  firmer  ground  in  the  history  of  China  as  an 
empire,  and  his  interest  in  the  subject  must  assume  a  more 
definite  form  on  coming  to  the  beginning  of  that  period  of 
united  government  and  settled  authority  which  has  been 
established  for  nearly  one  thousand  years,  during  which  no 
more  than  four  separate  families  have  held  possession  of  the 
throne. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    SUNGS    AND    THE    KINS 

One  fact  will  have  been  noticed  during  the  latter  por- 
tion of  the  period  that  has  now  closed,  and  that  is  the  in- 
creasing interest  and  participation  in  Chinese  affairs  of  the 
races  neighboring  to,  but  still  outside,  the  empire.  A  large 
number  of  the  successful  generals,  and  several  of  the  princely 
families  which  attained  independence,  were  of  Tartar  or  Turk 


THE   SUNOS    AND    THE   KINS.  61 

origin ;  but  the  founder  of  the  new  dynasty,  which  restored 
the  unity  of  the  empire,  was  of  pure  Chinese  race,  although 
a  native  of  the  most  northern  province  of  the  country.  Chow 
Kwang  Yn  was  born  in  Pechihli,  at  the  small  town  of  Yeou- 
tou,  on  the  site  of  which  now  stands  the  modern  capital  of 
Pekin.  His  family  had  provided  the  governor  of  this  place 
for  several  generations,  and  Chow  himself  had  seen  a  good 
deal  of  military  service  during  the  wars  of  the  period.  He 
is  described  as  a  man  of  powerful  physique  and  majestic 
appearance,  to  whose  courage  and  presence  of  mind  the 
result  of  more  than  one  great  battle  was  due,  and  who  had 
become  in  consequence  the  idol  of  the  soldiery.  The  ingenu- 
ity of  later  historians,  rather  than  the  credulity  of  his  con- 
temporaries, may  have  discovered  the  signs  and  portents 
which  indicated  that  he  was  the  chosen  of  Heaven ;  but  his 
army  had  a  simple  and  convincing  method  of  deciding  the 
destiny  of  the  empire.  Like  the  legionaries  of  Rome,  they 
exclaimed,  "The  empire  is  without  a  master,  and  we  wish 
to  give  it  one.  "Who  is  more  worthy  of  it  than  our  general?" 
Thus  did  Chow  Kwang  Yn  become  the  Emperor  Taitsou  and 
the  founder  of  the  Sung  dynasty. 

Taitsou  began  his  reign  by  proclaiming  a  general  am- 
nesty, and  he  sent  the  proclamation  of  his  pardon  into  prov- 
inces where  he  had  not  a  shred  of  authority.  The  step  was 
a  politic  one,  for  it  informed  the  Chinese  people  that  they 
again  had  an  emperor.  At  the  same  time  he  ordered  that 
the  gates  and  doors  of  his  palace  should  always  be  left  open, 
so  that  the  humblest  of  his  subjects  might  have  access  to  him 
at  any  time.  His  own  words  were  that  "his  house  should 
resemble  his  heart,  which  was  open  to  all  his  subjects."  He 
also  <ievoted  his  attention  to  the  improvement  of  his  army, 
and  particularly  to  the  training  of  his  officers,  who  were 
called  upon  to  pass  an  examination  in  professional  subjects 
as  well  as  physical  exercises.  A  French  writer  said,  forty 
years  ago,  that  "The  laws  of  military  promotion  in  the  states 
of  Europe  are  far  from  being  as  rational  and  equitable  as 
those  introduced  by  this  Chinese  ruler."     His  solicitude  for 


58  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

the  welfare  of  his  soldiers  was  evinced  during  a  campaign 
when  the  winter  was  exceedingly  severe.  He  took  off  his 
own  fur  coat,  and  sent  it  to  the  general  in  command,  with 
a  letter  stating  that  he  was  sorry  that  he  had  not  one  to 
send  to  every  soldier  in  the  camp.  A  soldier  himself,  he 
knew  how  to  win  a  soldier's  heart,  and  the  affection  and 
devotion  of  his  army  never  wavered  nor  declined.  He  had 
many  opportunities  of  testing  it.  His  first  war  was  with 
the  Prince  of  Han,  aided  by  the  King  of  Leaoutung,  whom 
he  speedily  vanquished,  and  whose  capacity  for  aggression 
was  much  curtailed  by  the  loss  of  the  frontier  fortress  of 
Loochow.  His  next  contest  was  with  an  old  comrade-in- 
arms named  Li  Chougsin,  whom  he  had  treated  very  well, 
but  who  was  seized  with  a  foolish  desire  to  be  greater  than 
his  ability  or  power  warranted.  The  struggle  was  brief, 
and  Li  Chougsin  felt  he  had  no  alternative  save  to  commit 
suicide. 

The  tranquillity  gained  by  these  successes  enabled  Tait- 
sou to  institute  a  great  reform  in  the  civil  administration  of 
the  empire,  and  one  which  struck  at  the  root  of  the  evil 
arising  from  the  excessive  power  and  irresponsibility  of  the 
provincial  governors.  Up  to  this  date  the  governors  had 
possessed  the  power  of  life  and  death  without  reference  to 
the  capital.  It  had  enabled  them  to  become  tyrants,  and 
had  simplified  their  path  to  complete  independence.  Taitsou 
resolved  to  deprive  them  of  this  prerogative  and  to  retain  it 
in  his  own  hands,  for,  he  said,  "As  life  is  the  dearest  thing 
men  possess,  should  it  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  an  official 
who  is  often  unjust  or  wicked?"  This  radical  reform  greatly 
strengthened  the  emperor's  position,  and  weakened  that  of 
the  provincial  viceroys;  and  Taitsou  thus  inaugurated  a  rule 
which  has  prevailed  in  China  down  to  the  present  day,  where 
the  life  of  no  citizen  can  be  taken  without  the  express  author- 
ity and  order  of  the  emperor.  Taitsou  then  devoted  his  at- 
tention to  the  subjugation  of  those  governors  who  had  either 
disregarded  his  administration  or  given  it  a  grudging  obedi- 
ence.    The  first  to  feel  the  weight  of  his  hand  was  the  vice- 


THE  SUNGS    AND    THE   KINS.  69 

roy  of  Honan ;  but  his  measures  were  so  well  taken,  and  the 
military  force  he  employed  so  overwhelming,  that  he  suc- 
ceeded in  dispossessing  him  and  in  appointing  his  own  lieu- 
tenant without  the  loss  of  a  single  man.  The  governor  of 
Szchuen,  believing  his  power  to  be  greater  than  it  was,  or 
trusting  to  the  remoteness  of  his  province,  publicly  defied 
Taitsou,  and  prepared  to  invade  his  dominions.  The  em- 
peror was  too  quick  for  him,  and  before  his  army  was  in 
the  field  sixty  thousand  imperial  troops  had  crossed  the  fron- 
tier and  had  occupied  the  province.  By  these  triumphs  Tait- 
sou acquired  possession  of  some  of  the  richest  provinces  and 
forty  millions  of  Chinese  subjects. 

Having  composed  these  internal  troubles  with  enemies 
of  Chinese  race,  Taitsou  resumed  his  military  operations 
against  his  old  opponents  in  Leaoutung.  Both  sides  had 
been  making  preparations  for  a  renewal  of  the  struggle, 
and  the  fortress  of  Taiyuen,  which  had  been  specially 
equipped  to  withstand  a  long  siege,  was  the  object  of  the 
emperor's  first  attack.  The  place  was  valiantly  defended 
by  a  brave  governor  and  a  large  garrison,  and  although 
Taitsou  defeated  two  armies  sent  to  relieve  it,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  give  up  the  hope  of  capturing  Taiyuen  on  this 
occasion.  Some  consolation  for  this  repulse  was  afforded 
by  the  capture  of  Canton  and  the  districts  dependent  on 
that  city.  He  next  proceeded  against  the  governor  of 
Kiangnan,  the  dual  province  of  Anhui  and  Kiangsu,  who 
had  taken  the  title  of  Prince  of  Tang,  and  striven  to  propiti- 
ate the  emperor  at  the  same  time  that  he  retained  his  own 
independence.  The  two  things  were,  however,  incompati- 
ble. Taitsou  refused  to  receive  the  envoys  of  the  Prince  of 
Tang,  and  he  ordered  him  to  attend  in  person  at  the  capital. 
With  this  the  Tang  prince  would  not  comply,  and  an  army 
was  at  once  sent  to  invade  and  conquer  Kiangnan.  The 
campaign  lasted  one  year,  by  which  time  the  Tang  power 
was  shattered,  and  his  territory  resumed  its  old  form  as  a 
province  of  China.  With  this  considerable  success  Taitsou's 
career  may  be  said  to  have  terminated,  for  although  he  sue- 


70  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

ceeded  in  detaching  the  Leaoutung  ruler  from  the  side  of 
the  Prince  of  Han,  and  was  hastening  at  the  head  of  his 
forces  to  crush  his  old  enemy  at  Taiyuen,  death  cut  short 
his  career  in  a  manner  closely  resembling  that  of  Edward 
the  First  of  England.  Taitsou  died  in  his  camp,  in  the  midst 
of  his  soldiers;  and,  acting  on  the  advice  of  his  mother, 
given  on  her  death-bed  a  few  years  before,  "that  he  should 
leave  the  throne  to  a  relation  of  mature  age,"  he  appointed 
his  brother  his  successor,  and  as  his  last  exhortation  to  him 
said,  "Bear  yourself  as  becomes  a  brave  prince,  and  govern 
well."  Many  pages  might  be  filled  with  the  recitation  of 
Taitsou's  great  deeds  and  wise  sayings;  but  his  work  in 
uniting  China  and  in  giving  the  larger  part  of  his  country 
tranquillity  speaks  for  itself.  His  character  as  a  ruler  may 
be  gathered  from  the  following  selection,  taken  from  among 
his  many  speeches:  "Do  you  think,"  he  said,  "that  it  is  so 
easy  for  a  sovereign  to  perform  his  duties?  He  does  noth- 
ing that  is  without  consequence.  This  morning  the  thought 
occurs  to  me  that  yesterday  I  decided  a  case  in  a  wrong 
manner,  and  this  memory  robs  me  of  all  my  joy." 

The  new  emperor  took  the  style  of  Taitsong,  and  during 
his  reign  of  twenty-three  years  the  Sung  dynasty  may  be 
fairly  considered  to  have  grown  consolidated.  One  of  his 
first  measures  was  to  restore  the  privileges  of  the  descendant 
of  Confucius,  which  included  a  hereditary  title  and  exemp- 
tion from  taxation,  and  which  are  enjoyed  to  the  present 
day.  After  three  years'  deliberation  Taitsong  determined 
to  renew  his  brother's  enterprise  against  Taiyuen,  and  as  he 
had  not  assured  the  neutrality  of  the  King  of  Leaoutung, 
his  task  was  the  more  difficult.  On  the  advance  of  the  Chi- 
nese army,  that  ruler  sent  to  demand  the  reason  of  the  at- 
tack on  his  friend  the  Prince  of  Han,  to  which  the  only 
reply  Taitsong  gave  was  as  follows:  "The  country  of  the 
Hans  was  one  of  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  and  the  prince 
having  refused  to  obey  my  orders  I  am  determined  to  punish 
him.  If  your  prince  stands  aside,  and  does  not  meddle  in 
this  quarrel,  I  am  willing  to  continue  to  live  at  peace  with 


THE   SUNGS    AND    THE    KINS.  71 

him;  if  he  does  not  care  to  do  this  we  will  fight  him."  On 
this  the  Leaou  king  declared  war,  but  his  troops  were  re- 
pulsed by  the  covering  army  sent  forward  by  Taitsong, 
while  he  prosecuted  the  siege  of  Taiyuen  in  person.  The 
fortress  was  well  defended,  but  its  doom  was  never  in  doubt. 
Taitsong,  moved  by  a  feeling  of  humanity,  offered  the  Prince 
of  Han  generous  terms  before  delivering  an  assault  which 
was,  practically  speaking,  certain  to  succeed,  and  he  had 
the  good  sense  to  accept  them.  The  subjugation  of  Han 
completed  the  pacification  of  the  empire  and  the  triumph  of 
Taitsong;  but  when  that  ruler  thought  to  add  to  this  success 
the  speedy  overthrow  of  the  Khitan  power  in  Leaoutung  he 
was  destined  to  a  rude  awakening.  His  action  was  cer- 
tainly precipitate,  and  marked  by  overconfidence,  for  the 
army  of  Leaoutung  was  composed  of  soldiers  of  a  warlike 
race  accustomed  to  victory.  He  advanced  against  it  as  if  it 
were  an  army  which  would  fly  at  the  sight  of  his  standard, 
but  instead  of  this  he  discovered  that  it  was  superior  to  his 
own  forces  on  the  banks  of  the  Kaoleang  River,  where  he 
suffered  a  serious  defeat.  Taitsong  was  fortunate  enough 
to  retain  his  conquests  over  the  southern  Han  states  and  to 
find  in  his  new  subjects  in  that  quarter  faithful  and  valiant 
soldiers.  The  success  of  the  Leaou  army  was  also  largely 
due  to  the  tactical  skill  of  its  general,  Yeliu  Hiuco,  who 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  history  of  this  period.  "When 
Taitsong  endeavored,  some  years  later,  to  recover  what  he 
had  lost  by  the  aid  of  the  Coreans,  who,  however,  neglected 
to  fulfill  their  part  of  the  contract,  he  only  invited  fresh 
misfortunes.  Yeliu  Hiuco  defeated  his  army  in  several 
pitched  battles  with  immense  loss;  on  one  occasion  it  was 
said  that  the  corpses  of  the  slain  checked  the  course  of  a 
river.  The  capture  of  Yangyeh,  the  old  Han  defender  of 
Taiyuen,  who  died  of  his  wounds,  completed  the  triumph 
of  the  Leaou  general,  for  it  was  said,  "If  Yangyeh  cannot 
resist  the  Tartars  they  must  be  invincible."  Taitsong's 
reign  closed  under  the  cloud  of  these  reverses ;  but,  on  the 
whole,  it  was  successful  and  creditable,  marking  an  im- 


72  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF    CHINA. 

provement  in  the  condition  of  the  country  and  the  people, 
and  the  triumph  of  the  Sungs  over  at  least  one  of  their 
natural  enemies. 

His  son  and  successor,  Chintsong,  must  be  pronounced 
fortunate  in  that  the  first  year  of  his  reign  witnessed  the 
death  of  Yeliu  Hiuco.  The  direct  consequence  of  his  death 
was  that  the  Chinese  were,  for  the  first  time,  successful  in 
their  campaign  against  the  Leaous.  But  this  satisfactory 
state  of  things  did  not  long  continue,  and  the  Leaous  be- 
came so  aggressive  and  successful  that  there  was  almost  a 
panic  among  the  Chinese,  and  the  removal  of  the  capital  to 
a  place  of  greater  security  was  suggested.  The  firm  counsel 
and  the  courageous  demeanor  of  the  minister  Kaochun  pre- 
vented this  course  being  adopted.  He  figuratively  described 
the  evil  consequences  of  retreat  by  saying,  "Your  majesty 
can,  without  serious  consequences,  advance  a  foot  further 
than  is  absolutely  necessary,  but  you  cannot  retire,  even  to 
the  extent  of  an  inch,  without  doing  yourself  much  harm." 
Chintsong,  fortunately  for  himself  and  his  state,  adopted 
this  course;  and  the  Tartars  thought  it  best  to  come  to 
terms,  especially  as  the  Chinese  emperor  was  willing  to  pay 
annually  an  allowance  in  silk  and  money  as  the  reward  of 
their  respecting  his  frontier.  The  arrangement  could  not 
have  been  a  bad  one,  as  it  gave  the  empire  eighteen  years 
of  peace.  The  country,  no  doubt,  increased  greatly  in  pros- 
perity during  this  period;  but  the  reputation  of  Chintsong 
steadily  declined.  He  seems  to  have  been  naturally  super- 
stitious, and  he  gave  himself  up  to  fortune  tellers  and  sooth- 
sayers during  the  last  years  of  his  reign ;  and  when  he  died, 
in  a.d.  1022,  he  had  impaired  the  position  and  power  of  the 
imperial  office.  Yet,  so  far  as  can  be  judged,  the  people 
were  contented,  and  the  population  rose  to  over  one  hun- 
dred million. 

Chintsong  was  succeeded  by  his  sixth  son,  Jintsong,  a 
boy  of  thirteen,  for  whom  the  government  was  carried  on 
by  his  mother,  a  woman  of  capacity  and  good  sense.  She 
took  off  objectionable  taxes  on  tea  and  salt — prime  neces 


THE   SUNGS   AND    THE   KINS.  73 

saries  of  life  in  China — and  she  instituted  surer  measures 
against  the  spiritualists  and  magicians  who  had  flourished 
under  her  husband  and  acquired  many  administrative  offices 
under  his  patronage.  After  ruling  for  ten  peaceful  years  she 
died  and  Jintsong  assumed  the  personal  direction  of  affairs. 
During  the  tranquillity  that  had  now  prevailed  for  more 
than  a  generation  a  new  power  had  arisen  on  the  Chinese 
frontier  in  the  principality  of  Tangut  or  Hia.  This  state 
occupied  the  modern  province  of  Kansuh,  with  some  of  the 
adjacent  districts  of  Koko  Nor  and  the  Gobi  Desert.  Chao 
Yuen,  the  prince  of  this  territory,  was  an  ambitious  war- 
rior, who  had  drawn  round  his  standard  a  force  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  fighting  men.  With  this  he 
waged  successful  war  upon  the  Tibetans,  and  began  a  course 
of  encroachments  on  Chinese  territory  which  was  not  to  be 
distinguished  from  open  hostility.  Chao  Yuen  was  not  con- 
tent with  the  appellation  of  prince,  and  "because  he  came  of 
a  family  several  of  whose  members  had  in  times  past  borne 
the  imperial  dignity,"  he  adopted  the  title  of  emperor.  Hav- 
ing taken  this  step,  Chao  Yuen  wrote  to  Jintsong  express- 
ing "the  hope  that  there  would  be  a  constant  and  solid  peace 
between  the  two  empires."  The  reply  of  the  Chinese  ruler 
to  this  insult,  as  he  termed  it,  was  to  declare  war  and  to 
offer  a  reward  for  the  head  of  Chao  Yuen. 

It  was  soon  made  evident  that  Chao  Yuen  possessed  the 
military  power  to  support  an  imperial  dignity.  He  defeated 
the  emperor's  army  in  two  pitched  battles  at  Sanchuen  and 
Yang  Moulong,  and  many  years  elapsed  before  the  Sung 
rulers  can  be  held  to  have  recovered  from  the  loss  of  their 
best  armies.  The  Khitans  of  Leaoutung  took  advantage  of 
these  misfortunes  to  encroach,  and  as  Jintsong  had  no  army 
with  which  to  oppose  them,  they  captured  ten  cities  with  little 
or  no  resistance.  The  Chinese  government  was  compelled 
to  purchase  them  back  by  increasing  the  annual  allowance 
it  paid  of  gold  and  silk.  A  similar  policy  was  resorted  to 
in  the  case  of  Chao  Yuen,  who  consented  to  a  peace  on 
receiving  every  year  one  hundred  thousand  pieces  of  silk 

4 


74  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

and  thirty  thousand  pounds  of  tea.  Not  content  with  -this 
payment,  Chao  Yuen  subsequently  exacted  the  right  to 
build  fortresses  along  the  Chinese  frontier.  Soon  after  this 
Chao  Yuen  was  murdered  by  one  of  his  sons,  whose  be- 
trothed he  had  taken  from  him.  If  Jintsong  was  not  fort- 
unate in  his  wars  he  did  much  to  promote  education  and  to 
encourage  literature.  He  restored  the  colleges  founded  by 
the  Tangs,  he  built  a  school  or  academy  in  every  town, 
he  directed  the  public  examinations  to  be  held  impartially 
and  frequently,  and  he  gave  special  prizes  as  a  reward  for 
elocution.  Some  of  the  greatest  historians  China  has  pro- 
duced lived  in  his  reign,  and  wrote  their  works  under  his 
patronage;  of  these  Szemakwang  was  the  most  famous. 
His  history  of  the  Tangs  is  a  masterpiece,  and  his  "  Garden 
of  Szemakwang"  an  idyll.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  sound 
judgment  as  well  as  the  elegance  of  his  style,  and  during  the 
short  time  he  held  the  post  of  prime  minister  his  administra- 
tion was  marked  by  ability  and  good  sense.  The  character 
of  Jintsong  was,  it  will  be  seen,  not  without  its  good  points, 
which  gained  for  him  the  affection  of  his  subjects  despite  his 
bad  fortune  against  the  national  enemies,  and  his  reign  of 
thirty  years  was,  generally  speaking,  prosperous  and  satis- 
factory. After  the  brief  reign  of  his  nephew,  Yngtsong, 
that  prince's  son,  Chintsong  the  Second,  became  emperor. 

The  career  of  "Wanganchi,  an  eccentric  and  socialistic 
statesman,  who  wished  to  pose  as  a  great  national  reformer, 
and  who  long  possessed  the  ear  and  favor  of  his  sovereign, 
lends  an  interest  to  the  reign  of  the  second  Chintsong.  Wan-* 
ganchi  did  not  possess  the  confidence  or  the  admiration  of 
his  brother  officials,  and  subsequent  writers  have  generally 
termed  him  an  impostor  and  a  charlatan.  But  he  may  only 
have  been  a  misguided  enthusiast  when  he  declared  that 
"the  State  should  take  the  entire  management  of  commerce, 
Industry,  and  agriculture  into  its  own  hands,  with  the  vie\» 
of  succoring  the  working  classes,  and  preventing  their  being 
ground  to  the  dust  by  the  rich."  The  advocacy  of  such  a 
scheme  is  calculated  to  earn  popularity,  as  few  of  those  who 


THE   SUNOS   AND    THE   KINS.  75 

are  to  benefit  by  it  stop  to  examine  its  feasibility,  and  Wan- 
ganchi  might  have  been  remembered  as  an  enlightened 
thinker  and  enthusiastic  advocate  of  the  rights  of  the 
masses  if  he  had  not  been  called  upon  to  carry  out  his 
theories.  But  the  proof  of  experience,  like  the  touch  of 
Ithuriel's  spear,  revealed  the  practical  value  of  his  sugges- 
tions, and  dissolved  the  attractive  vision  raised  by  his  per- 
fervid  eloquence  and  elevated  enthusiasm.  His  honesty  of 
purpose  cannot,  however,  be  disputed.  On  being  appointed 
to  the  post  of  chief  minister  he  took  in  hand  tl\e  application 
of  his  own  project.  He  exempted  the  poor  from  all  taxa- 
tion. He  allotted  lands,  and  he  supplied  the  cultivators 
with  seeds  and  implements.  He  also  appointed  local  boards 
to  superintend  the  efforts  of  the  agricultural  classes,  and  to 
give  them  assistance  and  advice.  But  this  paternal  govern- 
ment, this  system  of  making  the  state  do  what  the  individ- 
ual ought  to  do  for  himself,  did  not  work  as  it  was  expected. 
Those  who  counted  on  the  agricultural  laborer  working  with 
as  much  intelligence  and  energy  for  himself  as  he  had  done 
under  the  direction  of  a  master  were  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ment. Want  of  skill,  the  fitfulness  of  the  small  holder, 
aggravated  perhaps  by  national  calamities,  drought,  flood, 
and  pestilence,  being  felt  more  severely  by  laborers  than 
by  capitalists,  led  to  a  gradual  shrinkage  in  the  area  of  cul- 
tivated land,  and  at  last  to  the  suffering  of  the  classes  who 
were  to  specially  benefit  from  the  scheme  of  Wanganchi. 
The  failure  of  his  scheme,  which,  to  use  his  own  words, 
aimed  at  preventing  there  being  any  poor  or  over-rich  per- 
sons in  the  state,  entailed  his  disgrace  and  fall  from  power. 
But  his  work  and  his  name  have  continued  to  excite  interest 
and  speculation  among  his  countrymen  down  to  the  present 
day.  His  memory  has  been  aspersed  by  the  writers  of  China, 
who  have  generally  denounced  him  as  a  free-thinker  and  a 
nihilist,  and  although,  twenty  years  after  his  death,  a  tablet 
bearing  his  name  was  placed  in  the  Hall  of  Confucius  as  the 
greatest  Chinese  thinker  since  Mencius,  it  was  removed  after 
a  brief  period,  and  since  then  both  the  name  and  the  works 


76  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA, 

of  Wanganchi  have  been  consigned  to  an  oblivion  from  which 
only  the  curiosity  of  European  writers  has  rescued  them. 

Chintsong's  reign  was  peaceful,  but  he  seems  to  have 
only  avoided  war  by  yielding  to  all  the  demands  of  the  Tar- 
tars, who  encroached  on  the  frontier  and  seized  several  Chi- 
nese cities.  His  son  Chetsong  was  only  ten  when  he  became 
emperor,  and  the  administration  was  carried  on  by  his  mother, 
the  Empress  Tefei,  another  of  the  capable  women  of  Chinese 
history.  Her  early  death  left  Chetsong  to  rule  as  he  listed, 
and  his  first  acts  of  independent  authority  were  not  of  happy 
augury  for  the  future.  He  had  not  been  on  the  throne  many 
months  before  he  divorced  his  principal  wife  without  any 
apparent  justification,  and  when  remonstrated  with  he  merely 
replied  that  he  was  imitating  several  of  his  predecessors. 
The  censor's  retort  was,  "You  would  do  better  to  imitate 
their  virtues,  and  not  their  faults."  Chetsong  did  not  have 
any  long  opportunity  of  doing  either,  for  he  died  of  grief  at 
the  loss  of  his  favorite  son,  and  it  is  recorded  that,  as  "he 
did  not  expect  to  die  so  soon,"  he  omitted  the  precaution  of 
selecting  an  heir.  Fortunately  the  mischief  of  a  disputed 
successor  was  avoided  by  the  unanimous  selection  of  his 
brother  Hoeitsong  as  the  new  emperor.  He  proved  him- 
self a  vain  and  superstitious  ruler,  placing  his  main  faith 
in  fortune  tellers,  and  expecting  his  subjects  to  yield  im- 
plicit obedience  to  his  opinions  as  "the  master  of  the  law 
and  the  prince  of  doctrine."  Among  other  fallacies,  Hoeit- 
song cherished  the  belief  that  he  was  a  great  soldier,  and 
he  aspired  to  rank  as  the  conqueror  of  the  old  successful 
enemy  of  China,  the  Khitans  of  Leaoutung.  He  had  no 
army  worthy  of  the  name,  and  the  southern  Chinese  who 
formed  the  mass  of  his  subjects  were  averse  to  war,  yet  his 
personal  vanity  impelled  him  to  rush  into  hostilities  which 
promised  to  be  the  more  serious  because  a  new  and  formi- 
dable power  had  arisen  on  the  northern  frontier. 

The  Niuche  or  Chorcha  Tartars,  who  had  assumed  a  dis- 
tinct name  and  place  in  the  vicinity  of  the  modern  Kalgan, 
about  the  year  1000  A.D.,  had  become  subservient  to  the 


THE   SUNGS   AND    THE   KINS.  77 

great  Khitan  chief  Apaoki,  and  their  seven  hordes  had  re- 
mained faithful  allies  of  his  family  and  kingdom  for  many 
years  after  his  death.  But  some  of  the  clan  had  preferred 
independence  to  the  maintenance  of  friendly  relations  with 
their  greatest  neighbor,  and  they  had  withdrawn  northward 
into  Manchuria.  For  some  unknown  reason  the  Niuche  be- 
came dissatisfied  with  their  Khitan  allies,  and  about  the  year 
1100  a.d.  they  had  all  drawn  their  forces  together  as  an  in- 
dependent confederacy  under  the  leadership  of  a  great  chief 
named  Akouta.  The  Niuche  could  only  hope  to  establish 
their  independence  by  offering  a  successful  resistance  to  the 
King  of  Leaoutung,  who  naturally  resented  the  defection  of 
a  tribe  which  had  been  his  humble  dependents.  They  suc- 
ceeded in  this  task  beyond  all  expectation,  as  Akouta  inflicted 
a  succession  of  defeats  on  the  hitherto  invincible  army  of 
Leaoutung.  Then  the  Niuche  conqueror  resolved  to  pose 
as  one  of  the  arbiters  of  the  empire's  destiny,  and  to  found 
a  dynasty  of  his  own.  He  collected  his  troops,  and  he  ad- 
dressed them  in  a  speech  reciting  their  deeds  and  his  pre- 
tensions. "The  Khitans,"  he  said,  "had  in  the  earlier  days 
of  their  success  taken  the  name  of  Pintiei,  meaning  the  iron 
of  Pinchow,  but  although  that  iron  may  be  excellent,  it  is 
liable  to  rust  and  can  be  eaten  away.  There  is  nothing  save 
gold  which  is  unchangeable  and  which  does  not  destroy  it- 
self. Moreover,  the  family  of  "Wangyen,  with  which  I  am 
connected  through  the  chief  Hanpou,  had  always  a  great 
fancy  for  glittering  colors  such  as  that  of  gold,  and  I  am 
now  resolved  to  take  this  name  as  that  of  my  imperial  fam- 
ily. I  therefore  give  it  the  name  of  Kin,  which  signifies 
gold."  This  speech  was  made  in  the  year  1115,  and  it 
was  the  historical  introduction  of  the  Kin  dynasty,  which 
so  long  rivaled  the  Sung,  and  which,  although  it  attained 
only  a  brief  lease  of  power  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  was 
remarkable  as  being  the  first  appearance  of  the  ancestors 
of  the  present  reigning  Manchus. 

Like  other  conquerors  who  had  appeared  in  the  same 
quarter,  the  Kins,  as  we  must  now  call  them,  owed  their 


78  A    SH0R7    HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

rise  to  their  military  qualifications  and  to  their  high  spirit. 
Their  tactics,  although  of  a  simpler  kind,  were  as  superior 
to  those  of  the  Leaous  as  the  latter's  were  to  the  Chinese. 
Their  army  consisted  exclusively  of  cavalry,  and  victory 
was  generally  obtained  by  its  furious  attacks  delivered  from 
several  sides  simultaneously.  The  following  description, 
taken  from  Mailla's  translation  of  the  Chinese  official  his- 
tory, gives  the  best  account  of  their  army  and  mode  of 
fighting : 

"At  first  the  Niuche  had  only  cavalry.  For  their  sole 
distinction  they  made  use  of  a  small  piece  of  braid  on  which 
they  marked  certain  signs,  and  they  attached  this  to  both 
man  and  horse.  Their  companies  were  usually  composed  of 
only  fifty  men  each,  twenty  of  whom,  clothed  in  strong  cui- 
rasses, and  armed  with  swords  and  short  pikes,  were  placed 
in  the  front,  and  behind  those  came  the  remaining  thirty  in 
less  weighty  armor,  and  with  bows  and  arrows  or  javelins 
for  weapons.  "When  they  encountered  an  enemy,  two  men 
from  each  company  advanced  as  scouts,  and  then  arranging 
their  troops  so  as  to  attack  from  four  sides,  they  approached 
the  foe  at  a  gentle  trot  until  within  a  hundred  yards  of  his 
line.  Thereupon  charging  at  full  speed,  they  discharged 
their  arrows  and  javelins,  again  retiring  with  the  same 
celerity.  This  maneuver  they  repeated  several  times  until 
they  threw  the  ranks  into  confusion,  when  they  fell  upon 
them  with  sword  and  pike  so  impetuously  that  they  gen- 
erally gained  the  victory." 

The  novelty,  as  well  as  the  impetuosity,  of  their  attack 
supplied  the  want  of  numbers  and  of  weapons,  and  when 
the  Khitans  raised  what  seemed  an  overwhelming  force  to 
crush  the  new  power  that  ventured  to  play  the  rival  to  theirs 
in  Northern  China,  Akouta,  confident  in  himself  and  in  his 
people,  was  not  dismayed,  and  accepted  the  offer  of  battle. 
In  two  sanguinary  battles  he  vanquished  the  Khitan  armies, 
and  threatened  with  early  extinction  the  once  famous  dynasty 
of  Leaoutung.  When  the  Sung  emperor  heard  of  the  defeats 
of  his  old  opponents,  he  at  once  rushed  to  the  conclusion  that 


THE   SUNOS    AND    THE   KINS.  79 

the  appearance  of  this  new  power  on  the  flank  of  Leaoutung 
must  redound  to  his  advantage,  and,  although  warned  by 
the  King  of  Corea  that  "the  Kins  were  worse  than  wolves 
and  tigers,"  he  sent  an  embassy  to  Akouta  proposing  a  joint 
alliance  against  the  Khitans.  The  negotiations  were  not  at 
first  successful.  Akouta  concluded  a  truce  with  Leaoutung, 
but  took  offense  at  the  style  of  the  emperor's  letter.  The 
peace  was  soon  broken  by  either  the  Kins  or  the  Khitans, 
and  Hoeitsong  consented  to  address  Akouta  as  the  Great 
Emperor  of  the  Kins.  Then  Akouta  engaged  to  attack 
Leaoutung  from  the  north,  while  the  Chinese  assailed  it  on 
the  south,  and  a  war  began  which  promised  a  speedy  termi- 
nation. But  the  tardiness  and  inefficiency  of  the  Chinese 
army  prolonged  the  struggle,  and  covered  the  reputation  of 
Hoeitsong  and  his  troops  with  ignominy.  It  was  compelled 
to  beat  a  hasty  and  disastrous  retreat,  and  the  peasants  of 
Leaoutung  sang  ballads  about  its  cowardice  and  insufficiency. 

But  if  it  fared  badly  with  the  Chinese,  the  armies  of 
Akouta  continued  to  be  victorious,  and  the  Khitans  fled  not 
less  precipitately  before  him  than  the  Chinese  did  before 
them.  Their  best  generals  were  unable  to  make  the  least 
stand  against  the  Kin  forces.  Their  capital  was  occupied 
by  the  conqueror,  and  the  last  descendant  of  the  great 
Apaoki  fled  westward  to  seek  an  asylum  with  the  Prince 
of  Hia  or  Tangut.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  received  the 
protection  he  claimed,  for  after  a  brief  stay  at  the  court  of 
Hia,  he  made  his  way  to  the  desert,  where,  after  undergoing 
incredible  hardships,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  Kin  pur- 
suers. With  his  death  soon  afterward  the  Khitan  dynasty 
came  to  an  end,  after  enjoying  its  power  for  two  hundred 
years,  but  some  members  of  this  race  escaped  across  the 
Gobi  Desert,  and  founded  the  brief -lived  dynasty  of  the  Kara 
Khitay  in  Turkestan.  Akouta  died  shortly  before  the  final 
overthrow  of  the  Leaoutung  power,  and  his  brother  Oukimai 
ruled  in  his  place. 

The  ill-success  of  Hoeitsong's  army  in  its  joint  campaign 
against  Leaoutung  cost  the  emperor  his  share  in  the  spoil. 


SO  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

The  Kins  retained  the  whole  of  the  conquered  territory,  and 
the  Sung  prince  was  the  worse  off,  because  he  had  a  more 
powerful  and  aggressive  neighbor.  The  ease  of  their  con- 
quest, and  the  evident  weakness  of  the  Chinese,  raised  the 
confidence  of  the  Kins  to  such  a  high  point  that  they  de- 
clared that  the  Sungs  must  surrender  to  them  the  whole  of 
the  territory  north  of  the  Hoangho,  and  they  prepared  to 
secure  what  they  demanded  by  force  of  arms.  The  Chinese 
would  neither  acquiesce  in  the  transfer  of  this  region  to  the 
Kins  nor  take  steps  to  defend  it.  They  were  driven  out  of 
that  portion  of  the  empire  like  sheep,  and  they  even  failed 
to  make  any  stand  at  the  passage  of  the  Hoangho,  where 
the  Kin  general  declared  that  "  there  could  not  be  a  man 
left  in  China,  for  if  two  thousand  men  had  defended  the 
passage  of  this  river  we  should  never  have  succeeded  in 
crossing  it."  Hoeitsong  quitted  his  capital  Kaifong  to  seek 
shelter  at  Nankin,  where  he  hoped  to  enjoy  greater  safety, 
and  shortly  afterward  he  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son  Kint- 
song.  The  siege  of  Kaifong  which  followed  ended  in  a  con- 
vention binding  the  Chinese  to  pay  the  Kins  an  enormous 
sum — ten  millions  of  small  gold  nuggets,  twenty  millions  of 
small  silver  nuggets,  and  ten  million  pieces  of  silk;  but  the 
Tartar  soldiers  soon  realized  that  there  was  no  likelihood  of 
their  ever  receiving  this  fabulous  spoil,  and  in  their  indig- 
nation they  seized  both  Hoeitsong  and  Kintsong,  as  well  as 
any  other  members  of  the  royal  family  on  whom  they  could 
lay  their  hands,  and  carried  them  off  to  Tartary,  where  both 
the  unfortunate  Sung  princes  died  as  prisoners  of  the  Kins. 
Although  the  Kins  wished  co  sweep  the  Sungs  from  the 
throne,  and  their  general  Walipou  went  so  far  as  to  proclaim 
the  emperor  of  a  new  dynasty,  whose  name  is  forgotten, 
another  of  the  sons  of  Hoeitsong,  Prince  Kang  Wang,  had 
no  difficulty  in  establishing  his  own  power  and  in  preserving 
the  Sung  dynasty.  He  even  succeeded  in  imparting  a  new 
vigor  to  it,  for  on  the  advice  of  his  mother,  who  pointed  out 
to  him  that  "for  nearly  two  hundred  years  the  nation  ap- 
pears to  have  forgotten  the  art  of  war,"  he  devoted  all  his 


THE  SUNOS   AND    THE  KINS.  81 

attention  to  the  improvement  of  his  army  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  his  military  resources.  Prince  Kang  Wang,  on  be- 
coming emperor,  took  the  name  of  Kaotsong,  and  finally 
removed  the  southern  capital  to  Nankin.  He  was  also  driven 
by  his  financial  necessities  to  largely  increase  the  issue  of 
paper  money,  which  had  been  introduced  under  the  Tangs. 
As  both  the  Kins  and  the  Mongols  had  recourse  to  the  same 
expedient,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  Sungs  should  also 
have  adopted  the  simplest  mode  of  compensating  for  a  de- 
pleted treasury.  Considering  the  unexpected  difficulties  with 
which  he  had  to  cope,  and  the  low  ebb  to  which  the  fortunes 
of  China  had  fallen,  much  might  be  forgiven  to  Kaotsong, 
who  found  a  courageous  counselor  in  the  Empress  Mongchi, 
who  is  reported  to  have  addressed  him  as  follows:  "Although 
the  whole  of  your  august  family  has  been  led  captive  into 
the  countries  of  the  north,  none  the  less  does  China,  which 
knows  your  wisdom  and  fine  qualities,  preserve  toward  the 
Sungs  the  same  affection,  fidelity,  and  zeal  as  in  the  past. 
She  hopes  and  expects  that  you  will  prove  for  her  what 
Kwang  Vouti  was  for  the  Hans."  If  Kaotsong  did  not 
attain  the  height  of  this  success,  he  at  least  showed  himself 
a  far  more  capable  prince  than  any  of  his  immediate  pre- 
decessors. 

The  successful  employment  of  cavalry  by  the  Kins  nat- 
urally led  the  Chinese  to  think  of  employing  the  same  arm 
against  them,  although  the  inhabitants  of  the  eighteen 
provinces  have  never  been  good  horsemen.  Kaotsong  also 
devoted  his  attention  especially  to  the  formation  of  a  corps 
of  charioteers.  The  chariots,  four-wheeled,  carried  twenty- 
four  combatants,  and  these  vehicles  drawn  up  in  battle  array 
not  only  presented  a  very  formidable  appearance,  but  afforded 
a  very  material  shelter  for  the  rest  of  the  army.  Kaotsong 
seems  to  have  been  better  in  imagining  reforms  than  in  the 
task  of  carrying  them  out.  After  he  had  originated  much 
good  work  he  allowed  it  to  languish  for  want  of  definite 
support,  and  he  quarreled  with  and  disgraced  the  minister 
chiefly  responsible  for  these  reforms.     A  short  time  after  this 


62  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OP    CHINA. 

the  Kins  again  advanced  southward,  but  thanks  to  the  im- 
provement effected  in  the  Chinese  army,  and  to  the  skill  and 
valor  of  Tsongtse,  one  of  Kaotsong's  lieutenants,  they  did 
not  succeed  in  gaining  any  material  advantage.  Their  ef- 
forts to  capture  Kaifong  failed,  and  their  general  Niyamoho, 
recognizing  the  improvement  in  the  Chinese  army,  was  con- 
tent to  withdraw  his  army  with  such  spoil  as  it  had  been 
able  to  collect.  Tsongtse  followed  up  this  good  service 
against  the  enemy  by  bringing  to  their  senses  several  rebel- 
lious officials  who  thought  they  saw  a  good  opportunity  of 
shaking  off  the  Sung  authority.  At  this  stage  of  the  war 
Tsongtse  exhorted  Kaotsong,  who  had  quitted  Nankin  for 
Yangchow,  to  return  to  Kaifong  to  encourage  his  troops 
with  his  presence,  especially  as  there  never  was  such  a  favor- 
able opportunity  of  delivering  his  august  family  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Kins.  Tsongtse  is  reported  to  have  sent  as 
many  as  twenty  formal  petitions  to  his  sovereign  to  do  this, 
but  Kaotsong  was  deaf  to  them  all,  and  it  is  said  that  his 
obtuseness  and  want  of  nerve  caused  Tsongtse  so  much  pain 
that  he  died  of  chagrin. 

The  death  of  Tsongtse  induced  the  Kins  to  make  a  more 
strenuous  effort  to  humiliate  the  Sungs,  and  a  large  army 
under  the  joint  command  of  Akouta's  son,  Olito,  and  the 
general  Niyamoho,  advanced  on  the  capital  and  captured 
Yangchow.  Kaotsong,  who  saved  his  life  by  precipitate 
flight,  then  agreed  to  sign  any  treaty  drawn  up  by  his  con- 
queror. In  his  letter  to  Niyamoho  he  said,  "Why  fatigue 
your  troops  with  long  and  arduous  marches  when  I  will 
grant  you  of  my  own  will  whatever  you  demand?' '  But  the 
Kins  were  inexorable,  and  refused  to  grant  any  terms  short 
of  the  unconditional  surrender  of  Kaotsong,  who  fled  to 
Canton,  pursued  both  on  land  and  sea.  The  Kin  conquerors 
soon  found  that  they  had  advanced  too  far,  and  the  Chinese 
rallying  their  forces  gained  some  advantage  during  their 
retreat.  Some  return  of  confidence  followed  this  turn  in  the 
fortune  of  the  war,  and  two  Chinese  generals,  serving  in 
the  hard  school  of  adversity,  acquired  a  military  knowledge 


THE  SUNG 3   AND    THE  RINS.  83 

and  skill  which  made  them  formidable  to  even  the  best  of 
the  Kin  commanders.  The  campaigns  carried  on  between 
1131  and  1134  differed  from  any  that  had  preceded  them  in 
that  the  Kin  forces  steadily  retired  before  Oukiai  and  Chang- 
tsiun,  and  victory,  which  had  so  long  remained  constant  in 
their  favor,  finally  deserted  their  arms.  The  death  of  the 
Kin  emperor,  Oukimai,  who  had  upheld  with  no  decline  of 
luster  the  dignity  of  his  father  Akouta,  completed  the  dis- 
comfiture of  the  Kins,  and  contributed  to  the  revival  of  Chi- 
nese power  under  the  last  emperor  of  the  Sung  dynasty. 
The  reign  of  Oukimai  marks  the  pinnacle  of  Kin  power, 
which  under  his  cousin  and  successor  Hola  began  steadily 
to  decline. 

The  possession  of  Honan  formed  the  principal  bone  of 
contention  between  the  Kins  and  Sungs,  but  after  consider- 
able negotiation  and  some  fighting,  Kaotsong  agreed  to  leave 
it  in  the  hands  of  the  Kins,  and  also  to  pay  them  a  large 
annual  subsidy  in  silk  and  money.  He  also  agreed  to  hold 
the  remainder  of  his  states  as  a  gift  at  the  hands  of  his  north- 
ern neighbor.  Thus,  notwithstanding  the  very  considerable 
successes  gained  by  several  of  the  Sung  generals,  Kaotsong 
had  to  undergo  the  mortification  of  signing  a  humiliating 
peace  and  retaining  his  authority  only  on  sufferance.  Fort- 
unately for  the  independence  of  the  Sungs,  Hola  was  mur- 
dered by  Ticounai,  a  grandson  of  Akouta,  whose  ferocious 
character  and  ill-formed  projects  for  the  subjugation  of  the 
whole  of  China  furnished  the  Emperor  Kaotsong  with  the 
opportunity  of  shaking  off  the  control  asserted  over  his  ac- 
tions and  recovering  his  dignity.  The  extensive  preparations 
of  the  Kin  government  for  war  warned  the  Sungs  to  lose  no 
time  in  placing  every  man  they  could  in  the  field,  and  when 
Ticounai  rushed  into  the  war,  which  was  all  of  his  own  mak- 
ing, he  found  that  the  Sungs  were  quite  ready  to  receive  him 
and  offer  a  strenuous  resistance  to  his  attack.  A  peace  of 
twenty  years'  duration  had  allowed  of  their  organizing  their 
forces  and  recovering  from  an  unreasoning  terror  of  the 
Kins.     Moreover,  there  was  a  very  general  feeling  among 


84  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

the  inhabitants  of  both  the  north  and  the  south  that  the  war 
was  an  unjust  one,  and  that  Ticounai  had  embarked  upon  a 
course  of  lawless  aggression  which  his  tyrannical  and  cruel 
proceedings  toward  his  own  subjects  served  to  inflame. 

The  war  began  in  1161  A.D.,  with  an  ominous  defeat  of 
the  Kin  navy,  and  when  Kaotsong  nerved  himself  for  the 
crisis  in  his  lif  e  and  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
Ticounai  must  have  felt  less  sanguine  of  the  result  than  his 
confident  declaration  that  he  would  end  the  war  in  a  single 
campaign  indicated.  Before  the  two  armies  came  into  col- 
lision Ticounai  learned  that  a  rebellion  had  broken  out  in  his 
rear,  and  that  his  cousin  Oulo  challenged  both  his  legitimacy 
and  his  authority.  He  believed,  and  perhaps  wisely,  that 
the  only  way  to  deal  with  this  new  danger  was  to  press  on, 
and  by  gaining  a  signal  victory  over  the  Sungs  annihilate 
all  his  enemies  at  a  blow.  But  the  victory  had  to  be  gained, 
and  he  seems  to  have  underestimated  his  opponent.  He 
reached  the  Yangtsekiang,  and  the  Sungs  retired  behind  it. 
Ticounai  had  no  means  of  crossing  it,  as  his  fleet  had  been 
destroyed  and  the  Sung  navy  stood  in  his  path.  Such  river 
junks  as  he  possessed  were  annihilated  in  another  encounter 
on  the  river.  He  offered  sacrifices  to  heaven  in  order  to 
obtain  a  safe  passage,  but*  the  powers  above  were  deaf  to  his 
prayers.  Discontent  and  disorder  broke  out  in  his  camp. 
The  army  that  was  to  have  carried  all  before  it  was  stopped 
by  a  mere  river,  and  Ticounai's  reputation  as  a  general  was 
ruined  before  he  had  crossed  swords  with  the  enemy.  In 
this  dilemma  his  cruelty  increased,  and  after  he  had  sen- 
tenced many  of  his  officers  and  soldiers  to  death  he  was  mur- 
dered by  those  who  found  that  they  would  have  to  share  the 
same  fate.  After  this  tragic  ending  of  a  bad  career,  the  Kin 
army  retreated.  They  concluded  a  friendly  convention  with 
the  Sungs,  and  Kaotsong,  deeming  his  work  done  by  the 
repulse  of  this  grave  peril,  abdicated  the  throne,  which  had 
proved  to  him  no  bed  of  roses,  in  favor  of  his  adopted  heir 
Hiaotsong.  Kaotsong  ruled  during  the  long  period  of  thirty- 
six  years,  and  when  we  consider  the  troubled  time  through 


THE   SUNOS    AND    THE   KINS.  85 

which  he  passed,  and  the  many  vicissitudes  of  fortune  he 
underwent,  he  probably  rejoiced  at  being  able  to  spend  the 
last  twenty-five  years  of  his  life  without  the  responsibility  of 
governing  the  empire  and  free  from  the  cares  of  sovereignty. 

The  new  Kin  ruler  Oulo  wished  for  peace,  but  a  section 
of  his  turbulent  subjects  clamored  for  a  renewal  of  the  ex- 
peditions into  China,  and  he  was  compelled  to  bend  to  the 
storm.  The  Kin  army,  however,  had  no  cause  to  rejoice  in 
its  bellicoseness,  for  the  Chinese  general,  Changtsiun,  de- 
feated it  in  a  battle  the  like  of  which  had  not  been  seen  for 
ten  years.  After  this  a  peace  was  concluded  which  proved 
fairly  durable,  and  the  remainder  of  the  reigns  of  both  Oulo 
and  Hiaotsong  were  peaceful  and  prosperous  for  northern 
and  southern  China.  Both  of  these  princes  showed  an  aver- 
sion to  war  and  an  appreciation  of  peace  which  was  rare  in 
their  day.  The  Kin  ruler  is  stated  to  have  made  this  noble 
retort  when  he  was  solicited  by  a  traitor  from  a  neighboring 
state  to  seize  it:  "You  deceive  yourself  if  you  believe  me  to 
be  capable  of  approving  an  act  of  treason  whatever  the  pre- 
sumed advantage  it  might  procure  me.  I  love  all  peoples  of 
whatever  nation  they  may  be,  and  I  wish  to  see  them  at 
peace  with  one  another."  It  is  not  surprising  to  learn  that 
a  prince  who  was  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
civilization  should  have  caused  the  Chinese  classics  to  be 
translated  into  the  Kin  language.  Of  all  the  Kin  rulers 
he  was  the  most  intellectual  and  the  most  anxious  to  elevate 
the  standard  of  his  people,  who  were  far  ruder  than  the  in- 
habitants of  southern  China. 

Hiaotsong  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Kwangtsong,  and 
Oulo  by  his  grandson  Madacou,  both  of  whom  continued 
the  policy  of  their  predecessors.  Kwangtsong  was  saved 
the  trouble  of  ruling  by  his  wife,  the  Empress  Lichi,  and 
after  a  very  short  space  he  resigned  the  empty  title  of  em- 
peror, which  brought  him  neither  satisfaction  nor  pleasure. 
Ningtsong,  the  son  and  successor  of  Kwangtsong,  ventured 
on  one  war  with  the  Kins  in  which  he  was  worsted.  This 
was  the  last  of  the  Kin  successes,  for  Madaccu  died  soon 


©0  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

afterward,  just  on  the  eve  of  the  advent  of  the  Mongol  peril, 
which  threatened  to  sweep  all  before  it,  and  which  eventu- 
ally buried  both  Kin  and  Sung  in  a  common  ruin.  The  long 
competition  and  the  bitter  contest  between  the  Kins  and 
Sungs  had  not  resulted  in  the  decisive  success  of  either  side. 
The  Kins  had  been  strong  enough  to  found  an  administra- 
tion in  the  north  but  not  to  conquer  China.  The  Sungs  very 
naturally  represent  in  Chinese  history  the  national  dynasty, 
and  their  misfortunes  rather  than  their  successes  appeal  to 
the  sentiment  of  the  reader.  They  showed  themselves 
greater  in  adversity  than  in  prosperity,  and  when  the  Mongol 
tempest  broke  over  China  they  proved  the  more  doughty 
opponent,  and  the  possessor  of  greater  powers  of  resistance 
than  their  uniformly  successful  adversary  the  Kin  or  Golden 
Dynasty. 

CHAPTER  V 

THE  MONGOL  CONQUEST  OF  CHINA 

While  the  Kins  were  absorbed  in  their  contest  with  the 
Southern  Chinese,  they  were  oblivious  of  the  growth  of  a 
new  and  formidable  power  on  their  own  borders.  The 
strength  of  the  Mongols  had  acquired  serious  dimensions 
before  the  Kins  realized  that  they  would  have  to  fight,  not 
only  for  supremacy,  but  for  their  very  existence.  Before 
describing  the  long  wars  that  resulted  in  the  subjection  of 
China  by  this  northern  race,  we  must  consider  the  origin 
and  the  growth  of  the  power  of  the  Mongols,  who  were 
certainly  the  most  remarkable  race  of  conquerors  Asia,  or 
perhaps  the  whole  world,  ever  produced. 

The  home  of  the  Mongols,  whose  name  signifies  "brave 
men,"  was  in  the  strip  of  territory  between  the  Onon  and 
Kerulon  rivers,  which  are  both  tributaries  or  upper  courses 
of  the  Amour.  They  first  appeared  as  a  separate  clan  or 
tribe  in  the  ninth  century,  when  they  attracted  special  at- 
tention for  their  physical  strength  and  courage  during  one 


THE   MONGOL   CONQUEST    OF   CHINA.  87 

of  China's  many  wars  with  the  children  of  the  desert,  and 
it  was  on  that  occasion  they  gained  the  appellation  under 
which  they  became  famous.  The  earlier  history  of  the 
Mongol  tribe  is  obscure,  and  baffles  investigation,  but  there 
seems  no  reason  to  doubt  their  affinity  to  the  Hiongnou, 
with  whose  royal  house  Genghis  himself  claimed  blood  rela- 
tionship. If  this  claim  be  admitted,  Genghis  and  Attila, 
who  were  the  two  specially  typical  Scourges  of  God,  must 
be  considered  members  of  the  same  race,  and  the  probability 
is  certainly  strengthened  by  the  close  resemblance  in  their 
methods  of  carrying  on  war.  Budantsar  is  the  first  chief 
of  the  House  of  Genghis  whose  person  and  achievements  are 
more  than  mythical.  He  selected  as  the  abode  of  his  race  the 
territory  between  the  Onon  and  the  Kerulon,  a  region  fertile 
in  itself,  and  well  protected  by  those  rivers  against  attack.  It 
was  also  so  well  placed  as  to  be  beyond  the  extreme  limit 
of  any  triumphant  progress  of  the  armies  of  the  Chinese  em- 
peror. If  Budantsar  had  accomplished  nothing  more  than 
this,  he  would  still  have  done  much  to  justify  his  memory 
being  preserved  among  a  free  and  independent  people.  But 
he  seems  to  have  incited  his  followers  to  pursue  an  active 
and  temperate  life,  to  remain  warriors  rather  than  to  be- 
come rich  and  lazy  citizens.  He  wrapped  up  this  counsel 
in  the  exhortation,  "What  is  the  use  of  embarrassing  our- 
selves with  wealth?  Is  not  the  fate  of  man  decreed  by 
heaven?"  He  sowed  the  seed  of  future  Mongol  greatness, 
and  the  headship  of  his  clan  remained  vested  in  his  family. 
In  due  order  of  succession  the  chiefship  passed  to  Kabul 
Khan,  who  in  the  year  1135  began  to  encroach  on  the  do- 
minion of  Hola,  the  Kin  emperor.  He  seems  to  have  been 
induced  to  commit  this  act  of  hostility  by  a  prophecy,  to  the 
effect  that  his  children  should  be  emperors,  and  also  by  dis- 
courteous treatment  received  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  co 
the  court  of  Oukimai.  Whatever  the  cause  of  umbrage, 
Kabul  Khan  made  the  Kins  pay  dearly  for  their  arroganoe 
or  short-sighted  policy.  Hola  sent  an  army  under  one  of  his 
best  generals,  Hushahu,  to  bring  the  Mongol  chief  to  reason, 


88  A   SHOR1    HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

but  the  inaccessibility  of  his  home  stood  him  in  good  stead. 
The  Kin  army  suffered  greatly  in  its  futile  attempt  to  cross 
the  desert,  and  during  its  retreat  it  was  harassed  by  the 
pursuing  Mongols.  When  the  Kin  army  endeavored  to 
make  a  stand  against  its  pursuers,  it  suffered  a  crushing 
overthrow  in  a  battle  at  Hailing,  and  on  the  Kins  sending 
a  larger  force  against  the  Mongols  in  1139,  it  had  no  better 
fortune.  Kabul  Khan,  after  this  second  success,  caused 
himself  to  be  proclaimed  Great  Emperor  of  the  Mongols. 
His  success  in  war,  and  his  ambition,  which  rested  satisfied 
with  no  secondary  position,  indicated  the  path  on  which  the 
Mongols  proceeded  to  the  acquisition  of  supreme  power  and 
a  paramount  military  influence  whithersoever  they  carried 
their  name  and  standards.  The  work  begun  by  Kabul  was 
well  continued  by  his  son  Kutula,  or  Kublai.  He,  too,  was 
a  great  warrior,  whose  deeds  of  prowess  aroused  as  much 
enthusiasm  among  the  Mongols  as  those  of  Cceur  de  Lion 
evoked  in  the  days  of  the  Plantagenets.  The  struggle  with 
the  Kins  was  rendered  more  bitter  by  the  execution  of  sev- 
eral Mongols  of  importance,  who  happened  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Kins.  "When  Kutula  died  the  chiefship  passed 
to  his  nephew,  Yissugei,  who  greatly  extended  the  influence 
and  power  of  his  family  among  the  tribes  neighboring  to 
the  Mongol  home.  Many  of  these,  and  even  some  Chinese, 
joined  the  military  organization  of  the  dominant  tribe,  so 
that  what  was  originally  a  small  force  of  strictly  limited 
numbers  became  a  vast  and  ever-increasing  confederacy  of 
the  most  warlike  and  aggressive  races  of  the  Chinese  north- 
ern frontier.  Important  as  Yissugei's  work  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Mongol  power  undoubtedly  was,  his  chief  historical 
interest  is  derived  from  the  fact  that  he  was  the  father  of 
Genghis  Khan. 

There  are  several  interesting  fables  in  connection  with 
the  birth  of  Genghis,  which  event  may  be  safely  assigned 
to  the  year  1162.  One  of  these  reads  as  follows:  "One 
day  Yissugei  was  hunting  in  company  with  his  brothers, 
and  was  following  the  tracks  of  a  white  here  in  the  snow. 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  89 

They  struck  upon  the  track  of  a  wagon,  and  following  it  up 
came  to  a  spot  where  a  woman's  yart  was  pitched.  Then 
said  Yissugei,  'This  woman  will  bear  a  valiant  son.'  He 
discovered  that  she  was  the  damsel  Ogelen  Eke  (i.e.,  the 
mother  of  nations),  and  that  she  was  the  wife  of  Yeke 
Yilatu,  chief  of  a  Tartar  tribe.  Yissugei  carried  her  off 
and  made  her  his  wife."  Immediately  after  his  overthrow 
of  Temujin,  chief  of  one  of  the  principal  Tartar  tribes,  Yis- 
sugei learned  that  the  promised  "valiant  son"  was  about  to 
be  born,  and  in  honor  of  his  victory  he  gave  him  the  name 
of  Temujin,  which  was  the  proper  name  of  the  great  Gen- 
ghis. The  village  or  encampment  in  which  the  future  con- 
queror first  saw  the  light  of  day  still  bears  the  old  Mongol 
name,  Dilun  Boldak,  on  the  banks  of  the  Onon.  When 
Yissugei  died,  Temujin,  or  Genghis,  was  only  thirteen,  and 
his  clan  of  forty  thousand  families  refused  to  recognize  him 
as  their  leader.  At  a  meeting  of  the  tribe  Genghis  en- 
treated them  with  tears  in  his  eyes  to  stand  by  the  son  of 
their  former  chief,  but  the  majority  of  them  mocked  at 
him,  exclaiming,  "The  deepest  wells  are  sometimes  dry, 
and  the  hardest  stone  is  sometimes  broken,  why  should  we 
cling  to  thee?"  Genghis  owed  to  the  heroic  attitude  of  his 
mother,  who  flung  abroad  the  cow-tailed  banner  of  his  race, 
the  acceptance  of  his  authority  by  about  half  the  warriors 
who  had  obeyed  his  father.  The  great  advantage  of  this 
step  was  that  it  gave  Genghis  time  to  grow  up  to  be  a 
warrior  as  famous  as  any  of  his  predecessors,  and  it  cer- 
tainly averted  what  might  have  easily  become  the  irretriev- 
able disintegration  of  the  Mongol  alliance. 

The  youth  of  Genghis  was  passed  in  one  ceaseless  strug- 
gle to  regain  the  whole  of  his  birthright.  His  most  formi- 
dable enemy  was  Chamuka,  chief  of  the  Juriats,  and  for  a 
long  time  he  had  all  the  worst  of  the  struggle,  being  taken 
prisoner  on  one  occasion,  and  undergoing  the  indignity  of 
the  cangue.  On  making  his  escape  he  rallied  his  remaining 
followers  round  him  for  a  final  effort,  and  on  the  advice  of 
his  mother,  Ogelen  Eke,  who  was  his  principal  adviser  and 


90  A   SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

stanchest  supporter,  he  divided  his  forces  into  thirteen  regi- 
ments of  one  thousand  men  each,  and  confined  his  attention 
to  the  defense  of  his  own  territory.  Chamuka,  led  away  by 
what  he  deemed  the  weakness  of  his  adversary,  attacked 
him  on  the  Onon  with  as  he  considered  the  overwhelming 
force  of  thirty  thousand  men;  but  the  result  dispelled  his 
hopes  of  conquest,  for  Genghis  gained  a  decisive  victory. 
Then  was  furnished  a  striking  instance  of  the  truth  of  the 
saying  that  "nothing  succeeds  like  success."  The  despised 
Temujin,  who  was  thought  to  be  unworthy  of  the  post  of 
ruling  the  Mongols,  was  lauded  to  the  skies,  and  the  tribes 
declared  with  one  voice,  "Temujin  alone  is  generous  and 
worthy  of  ruling  a  great  people."  At  this  time  also  he  began 
to  show  the  qualities  of  a  statesman  and  diplomatist.  He 
formed  in  1194  a  temporary  alliance  with  the  Kin  em- 
peror, Madacou,  and  the  richness  of  his  reward  seems  to 
have  excited  his  cupidity,  while  his  experience  of  the  Kin 
army  went  to  prove  that  they  were  not  so  formidable  as 
had  been  imagined.  The  discomfiture  of  Chamuka  has 
been  referred  to,  but  he  had  not  abandoned  the  hope  of 
success,  and  when  he  succeeded  in  detaching  the  Kerait 
chief,  "Wang  Khan,  from  the  Mongols,  to  whom  he  was 
bound  by  ties  of  gratitude,  he  fancied  that  he  again  held 
victory  in  his  grasp.  But  the  intrigue  did  not  realize  his 
expectations.  Wang  Khan  deserted  Genghis  while  engaged 
in  a  joint  campaign  against  the  Naimans,  but  he  was  the 
principal  sufferer  by  his  treachery,  for  the  enemy  pursued 
his  force,  and  inflicted  a  heavy  defeat  upon  it.  In  fact,  he 
was  only  rescued  from  destruction  by  the  timely  aid  of  the 
man  he  had  betrayed. 

But  far  from  inspiring  gratitude,  this  incident  inflamed 
the  resentment  of  Wang  Khan,  who,  throwing  off  the  cloak 
of  simulated  friendship,  declared  publicly  that  either  the 
Kerait  or  the  Mongol  must  be  supreme  on  the  great  steppe, 
as  there  was  not  room  for  both.  Such  was  the  superiority 
in  numbers  of  the  Kerait,  that  in  the  first  battle  of  this  long 
and  keenly-contested  struggle,  Wang  Khan  defeated  Temu- 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF    CHINA.  91 

jin  near  Ourga,  where  the  mounds  that  cover  the  slain  are 
still  shown  to  the  curious  or  skeptical  visitor.  After  this 
serious,  and  in  some  degree  unexpected  reverse,  the  fort- 
unes of  Genghis  sank  to  the  lowest  ebb.  He  was  reduced 
to  terrible  straits,  and  had  to  move  his  camp  rapidly  from 
one  spot  to  another.  A  small  section  of  his  followers,  mind- 
ful of  his  past  success  and  prowess,  still  clung  to  him,  and 
by  a  sudden  and  daring  coup  he  changed  the  whole  aspect 
of  the  contest.  He  surprised  Wang  Khan  in  his  camp  at 
night,  and  overwhelmed  him  and  his  forces.  Wang  Khan 
escaped  to  his  old  foes,  the  Naimans,  who,  disregarding  the 
laws  of  hospitality,  put  him  to  death.  The  death  of  Wang 
Khan  signified  nothing  less  than  the  wholesale  defection  of 
the  Kerait  tribe,  which  joined  Genghis  to  the  last  man. 
Then  Genghis  turned  westward  to  settle  the  question  of 
supremacy  with  the  Naimans,  who  were  both  hostile  and 
defiant.  The  Naiman  chief  shared  the  opinion  of  Wang 
Khan,  that  there  could  not  be  two  masters  on  the  Tian 
Shan,  and  with  that  vigorous  illustration  which  has  never 
been  wanting  to  these  illiterate  tribes,  he  wrote,  "There 
cannot  be  two  suns  in  the  sky,  two  swords  in  one  sheath, 
two  eyes  in  one  eyepit,  or  two  kings  in  one  empire."  Both 
sides  made  strenuous  efforts  for  the  fray,  and  brought  every 
fighting  man  they  could  into  the  field.  The  decisive  battle 
of  the  war  was  fought  in  the  heart  of  Jungaria,  and  the 
star  of  Genghis  rose  in  the  ascendant.  The  Naimans  fought 
long  and  well,  but  they  were  borne  down  by  the  heavier 
armed  Mongols,  and  their  desperate  resistance  only  added 
to  their  loss.  Their  chief  died  of  his  wounds,  and  the  tri- 
umph of  Genghis  was  rendered  complete  by  the  capture  of 
his  old  enemy,  Chamuka.  As  Genghis  had  sworn  the  oath 
of  friendship  with  Chamuka,  he  would  not  slay  him,  but  he 
handed  him  over  to  a  relative,  who  promptly  exacted  the 
rough  revenge  his  past  hostility  and  treachery  seemed  to 
call  for.  On  his  way  back  from  this  campaign  the  Mongol 
chief  attacked  the  Prince  of  Hia,  who  reigned  over  Kansuh 
and  Tangut,  and  thus  began  the  third  war  he  waged  for  the 


92  A    SHORT  HIST0R1     OF  CHINA. 

extension  of  his  power.  Before  this  assumed  serious  propor- 
tions he  summoned  a  Grand  Council  or  Kuriltai,  at  his  camp 
on  the  Onon,  and  then  erected  outside  his  tent  the  royal 
Mongol  banner  of  the  nine  white  yak-tails.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  Temujin  took,  and  was  proclaimed  among  the 
Mongol  chiefs  by,  the  highly  exalted  name  of  Genghis  Khan, 
which  means  Very  Mighty  Khan.  The  Chinese  character 
for  the  name  signifies  "Perfect  Warrior,"  and  the  earlier 
European  writers  affirm  that  it  is  supposed  to  represent  the 
sound  of  "the  bird  of  heaven."  At  this  assemblage,  which 
was  the  first  of  a  long  succession  of  Mongol  councils  sum- 
moned at  the  same  place  on  critical  occasions,  it  was  pro- 
posed and  agreed  that  the  war  should  be  carried  on  with  the 
richer  and  less  warlike  races  of  the  south.  Am  ng  soldiers 
it  is  necessary  to  preserve  the  spirit  of  pre-eminence  and 
warlike  zeal  by  granting  rewards  and  decorations.  Gen- 
ghis realized  the  importance  of  this  matter  ^nd  instituted 
the  order  of  Batumi  or  Bahadur,  meaning  warrior.  He 
also  made  his  two  leading  generals  Muh  Ja  and  Porshu 
princes,  one  to  sit  on  his  right  hand  and  the  other  on  his 
left.  He  addressed  them  before  the  council  in  the  follow- 
ing words:  "It  is  to  you  that  I  owe  my  empire.  You  are 
and  have  been  to  me  as  the  shafts  of  a  carriage  or  the 
arms  to  a  man's  body."  Seals  of  office  were  also  granted 
to  all  the  officials,  so  that  their  authority  might  be  the 
more  evident  and  the  more  honored. 

In  1207  Genghis  began  his  war  with  the  state  of  Hia, 
which  he  had  determined  to  crush  as  the  preliminary  to 
an  invasion  of  China.  In  that  year  he  contented  himself 
with  the  capture  of  Wuhlahai,  one  of  the  border  fortresses 
of  that  principality,  and  in  the  following  year  he  established 
his  control  over  the  tribes  of  the  desert  more  fully,  thus 
gaining  many  Kirghiz  and  Nainian  auxiliaries.  In  1200  he 
resumed  the  war  with  Hia  in  a  determined  spirit,  and  placed 
himself  in  person  at  the  head  of  all  his  forces.  Although 
the  Hia  ruler  prepared  as  well  as  he  could  for  the  struggle, 
he  was  really  unnerved  by  the  magnitude  of  the  danger  he 


THE  MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  93 

had  to  face.  His  army  was  overthrown,  his  best  generals 
were  taken  prisoners,  and  he  himself  had  no  resource  left 
but  to  throw  himself  on  the  consideration  of  Genghis.  For 
good  reasons  the  Mongol  conqueror  was  lenient.  He  mar- 
ried one  of  the  daughters  of  the  king,  and  he  took  him  into 
subsidiary  alliance  with  himself.  Thus  did  Genghis  absorb 
the  Hia  power,  which  was  very  considerable,  and  prepared  to 
enroll  it  with  all  his  own  resources  against  the  Kin  empire. 
If  the  causes  of  Mongol  success  on  this  occasion  and  after- 
ward are  inquired  for,  T  cannot  do  better  than  repeat  what 
I  previously  wrote  on  this  subject:  "The  Mongols  owed 
their  military  success  to  their  admirable  discipline  and  to 
their  close  study  of  the  art  of  war.  Their  military  su- 
premacy arose  from  their  superiority  in  all  essentials  as  a 
fighting  power  to  their  neighbors.  Much  of  their  knowledge 
was  borrowed  from  China,  where  the  art  of  disciplining  a 
large  army  and  maneuvering  it  in  the  field  had  been  brought 
to  a  high  state  of  perfection  many  centuries  before  the  time 
of  Genghis.  But  the  Mongols  carried  the  teaching  of  the 
past  to  a  further  point  than  any  of  the  former  or  contem- 
porary Chinese  commanders,  indeed,  than  any  in  the  whole 
world,  had  done ;  and  the  revolution  which  they  effected  in 
tactics  was  not  less  remarkable  in  itself,  and  did  not  leave 
a  smaller  impression  upon  the  age,  than  the  improvements 
made  in  military  science  by  Frederick  the  Great  and  Napo- 
leon in  their  day.  The  Mongol  played  in  a  large  way  in 
Asia  the  part  which  the  Normans  on  a  smaller  scale  played 
in  Europe.  Although  the  landmarks  of  their  triumph  have 
now  almost  wholly  vanished,  they  were  for  two  centuries 
the  dominant  caste  in  most  of  the  states  of  Asia." 

Having  thus  prepared  the  way  for  the  larger  enterprise, 
it  only  remained  to  find  a  plausible  pretext  for  attacking  the 
Kins.  With  or  without  a  pretext  Genghis  would  no  doubt 
have  made  war,  but  even  the  ruthless  Mongol  sometimes 
showed  a  regard  for  appearances.  Many  years  before  the 
Kins  had  sent  as  envoy  to  the  Mongul  encampment  Chong- 
hei,  a  member  of  their  ruling  house,  and  his  mission  had 


94  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

been  not  only  unsuccessful,  but  had  led  to  a  personal  win- 
tipathy  between  the  two  men.  In  the  course  of  time  Chong- 
hei  succeeded  Madacou  as  emperor  of  the  Kins,  and  when  a 
Kin  messenger  brought  intelligence  of  this  event  to  Genghis, 
the  Mongol  ruler  turned  toward  the  south,  spat  upon  the 
ground,  and  said,  "I  thought  that  your  sovereigns  were  of 
the  race  of  the  gods,  but  do  you  suppose  that  I  am  going 
to  do  homage  to  such  an  imbecile  as  that?"  The  affront 
rankled  in  the  mind  of  Chonghei,  and  while  Genghis  was 
engaged  with  Hia,  he  sent  troops  to  attack  the  Mongol  out- 
posts. Ohonghei  thus  placed  himself  in  the  wrong,  and  gave 
Genghis  justification  for  declaring  that  the  Kins  and  not  he 
began  the  war.  The  reputation  of  the  Golden  dynasty,  al- 
though not  as  great  as  it  once  was,  still  stood  sufficiently 
high  to  make  the  most  adventurous  of  desert  chiefs  wary  in 
attacking  it.  Genghis  had  already  secured  the  co-operation 
of  the  ruler  of  Hia  in  his  enterprise,  and  he  next  concluded 
an  alliance  with  Yeliu  Liuko,  chief  of  the  Khitans,  who  were 
again  manifesting  discontent  with  the  Kins.  Genghis  finally 
circulated  a  proclamation  among  all  the  desert  tribes,  calling 
upon  them  to  join  him  in  his  attack  on  the  common  enemy. 
This  appeal  was  heartily  and  generally  responded  to,  and  it 
was  at  the  head  of  an  enormous  force  that  Genghis  set  out 
in  March,  1211,  to  effect  the  conquest  of  China.  The  Mon- 
gol army  was  led  by  Genghis  in  person,  and  under  him  his 
four  sons  and  his  most  famous  general,  Chepe  Noyan,  held 
commands. 

The  plan  of  campaign  of  the  Mongol  ruler  was  as  simple 
as  it  was  bold.  From  his  camp  at  Karakoram,  on  the  Keru- 
lon,  he  marched  in  a  straight  line  through  Kuku  Khoten  and 
the  Ongut  country  to  Taitcng,  securing  an  unopposed  pas- 
sage through  the  Great  Wall  by  the  defection  of  the  Ongut 
tribe.  The  Kins  were  unprepared  for  this  sudden  and  vigor- 
ous assault  directed  on  their  weakest  spot,  and  successfully 
executed  before  their  army  could  reach  the  scene.  During 
the  two  years  that  the  forces  of  Genghis  kept  the  field  on 
this  occasion,  they  devastated  the  greater  portion  of  the  three 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  95 

northern  provinces  of  Shensi,  Shansi,  and  Pechihli.  But  the 
border  fortress  of  Taitong  and  the  Kin  capital,  Tungking, 
successfully  resisted  all  the  assaults  of  the  Mongols,  and 
when  Genghis  received  a  serious  wound  at  the  former  place, 
he  reluctantly  ordered  the  retreat  of  his  army,  laden  with  an 
immense  quantity  of  spoil,  but  still  little  advanced  in  its  main 
task  of  conquering  China.  The  success  of  the  Khitan  Yeliu 
Liuko  had  not  been  less  considerable,  and  he  was  proclaimed 
King  of  Leaou  as  a  vassal  of  the  Mongols.  The  planting  of 
this  ally  on  the  very  threshold  of  Chinese  power  facilitated 
the  subsequent  enterprises  of  the  Mongols  against  the  Kins, 
and  represented  the  most  important  result  of  this  war. 

In  1213  Genghis  again  invaded  the  Kin  dominions,  but 
his  success  was  not  very  striking,  and  in  several  engage- 
ments of  no  very  great  importance  the  Kin  arms  met  with 
some  success.  The  most  important  events  of  the  year  were, 
however,  the  deposition  and  murder  of  Chonghei,  the  mur- 
der of  a  Kin  general,  Hushahu,  who  had  won  a  battle  against 
the  Mongols,  and  the  proclamation  of  Utubu  as  emperor. 
The  change  of  sovereign  brought  no  change  of  fortune  to 
the  unlucky  Kins.  Utubu  was  only  able  to  find  safety  be- 
hind the  walls  of  his  capital,  and  he  was  delighted  when 
Genghis  wrote  him  the  following  letter:  "Seeing  your 
wretched  condition  and  my  exalted  fortune,  what  may 
your  opinion  be  now  of  the  will  of  heaven  with  regard 
to  myself?  At  this  moment  I  am  desirous  to  return  to 
Tartary,  but  could  you  allow  my  soldiers  to  take  their 
departure  without  appeasing  their  anger  with  presents?" 
In  reply  Utubu  sent  Genghis  a  princess  of  his  family  as 
a  wife,  and  also  "five  hundred  youths,  the  same  number  of 
girls,  three  thousand  horses,  and  a  vast  quantity  of  precious 
articles."  Then  Genghis  retired  once  more  to  Karakoram, 
but  on  his  march  he  stained  his  reputation  by  massacring 
all  his  prisoners — the  first  gross  act  of  inhumanity  he  com- 
mitted during  his  Chinese  wars. 

"When  Utubu  saw  the  Mongols  retreating,  he  thought  to 
provide  against  the  most  serious  consequences  of  their  return 


96  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

by  removing  his  capital  to  a  greater  distance  from  the  fron- 
tier, and  with  this  object  he  transferred  his  residence  to  Kai- 
fong.  The  majority  of  his  advisers  were  against  this  change, 
as  a  retirement  could  not  but  shake  public  confidence.  It 
had  another  consequence,  which  they  may  not  have  contem- 
plated, and  that  was  its  providing  Genghis  with  an  excuse 
for  renewing  his  attack  on  China.  The  Mongol  at  once 
complained  that  the  action  of  the  Kin  emperor  implied  an 
unwarrantable  suspicion  of  his  intentions,  and  he  sent  his 
army  across  the  frontier  to  recommence  his  humiliation.  On 
this  occasion  a  Kin  general  deserted  to  them,  and  thencefor- 
ward large  bodies  of  the  Chinese  of  the  north  attached  them- 
selves to  the  Mongols,  who  were  steadily  acquiring  a  unique 
reputation  for  power  as  well  as  military  prowess.  The  great 
event  of  this  war  was  the  siege  of  Yenking — on  the  site  of 
which  now  stands  the  capital  Pekin — the  defense  of  which 
had  been  intrusted  to  the  Prince  Imperial ;  but  Utubu,  more 
anxious  for  his  son's  safety  than  the  interests  of  the  state, 
ordered  him  to  return  to  Kaifong.  The  governor  of  Yen- 
king  offered  a  stout  resistance  to  the  Mongols,  and  when  he 
found  that  he  could  not  hold  out,  he  retired  to  the  temple 
of  the  city  and  poisoned  himself.  His  last  act  was  to  write 
a  letter  to  Utubu  begging  him  to  listen  no  more  to  the  per- 
nicious advice  of  the  man  who  had  induced  him  to  murder 
Hushahu. 

The  capture  of  Yenking,  where  Genghis  obtained  a  large 
supply  of  war  materials,  as  well  as  vast  booty,  opened  the 
road  to  Central  China.  The  Mongols  advanced  as  far  as 
the  celebrated  Tunkwan  Pass,  which  connects  Sheusi  and 
Honan,  but  when  their  general,  Samuka,  saw  how  formi- 
dable it  was,  and  how  strong  were  the  Kin  defenses  and 
garrison,  ho  declined  to  attack  it,  and,  making  a  detour 
through  very  difficult  country,  he  marched  on  Kaifong, 
where  Utubu  little  expected  him.  The  Mongols  had  to 
make  their  own  road,  and  they  crossed  several  ravines  by 
improvised  "bridges  made  of  spears  and  the  branches  of  trees 
bound  together  by  strong  chains."    But  the  Mongol  force 


THE  MONGOL    CONQUEST  OF   CHINA.  Vt 

was  too  small  to  accomplish  any  great  result,  and  the  im- 
petuosity of  Samuka  nearly  led  to  his  destruction.  A 
prompt  retreat,  and  the  fact  that  the  Hoangho  was  frozen 
over,  enabled  him  to  extricate  his  army,  after  much  fatigue 
and  reduced  in  numbers,  from  its  awkward  position.  The 
retreat  of  the  Mongols  inspired  Utubu  with  sufficient  confi- 
dence to  induce  him  to  attack  Yeliu  Liuko  in  Leaoutung, 
and  the  success  of  this  enterprise  imparted  a  gleam  of  sun- 
shine and  credit  to  the  expiring  cause  of  the  Kins.  Yeliu 
Liuko  was  driven  from  his  newly-created  kingdom,  but 
Genghis  hastened  to  the  assistance  of  his  ally  by  sending 
Muhula,  the  greatest  of  all  his  generals,  at  the  head  of  a 
large  army  to  recover  Leaoutung.  His  success  was  rapid 
and  remarkable.  The  Kins  were  speedily  overthrown,  Yeliu 
Liuko  was  restored  to  his  authority,  and  the  neighboring 
King  of  Corea,  impressed  by  the  magnitude  of  the  Mongol 
success,  hastened  to  acknowledge  himself  the  vassal  of 
Genghis.  The  most  important  result  of  this  campaign 
was  that  Genghis  intrusted  to  Muhula  the  control  of  all 
military  arrangements  for  the  conquest  of  China.  He  k 
reported  to  have  said  to  his  lieutenant:  "North  of  the 
Taihing  Mountains  I  am  supreme,  but  all  the  regions  to  the 
south  I  commend  to  the  care  of  Muhula,"  and  he  "also  pre- 
sented him  with  a  chariot  and  a  banner  with  nine  scalops. 
As  he  handed  him  this  last  emblem  of  authority,  he  spoke 
to  his  generals,  saving,  'Let  this  banner  be  an  emblem  of 
sovereignty,  and  let  the  orders  issued  from  under  it  be 
obeyed  as  my  own.'  "  The  principal  reason  for  intrusting 
the  conquest  of  China  to  a  special  force  and  commander 
was  that  Genghis  wished  to  devote  the  whole  of  his  personal 
attention  to  the  prosecution  of  his  new  war  with  the  King 
of  Khwaresm  and  the  other  great  rulers  of  Western  Asia. 
Muhula  more  than  justified  the  selection  and  confidence 
of  his  sovereign.  In  the  year  1218-19  he  invaded  Honan, 
defeated  the  best  of  the  Kin  commanders,  and  not  merely 
overran,  but  retained  possession  of  the  places  he  occupied 
in  the  Kin  dominions.     The  difficulties  of  Utubu  were  ag- 

5 


98  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

gravated  by  an  attack  from  Ningtsong,  the  Sung  emperor, 
who  refused  any  longer  to  pay  tribute  to  the  Kins,  as  they 
were  evidently  unable  to  enforce  the  claim,  and  the  Kin 
armies  were  as  equally  unfortunate  against  their  southern 
opponents  as  their  northern.  Then  Utubu  endeavored  to 
negotiate  terms  with  Muhula  for  the  retreat  of  his  army,  but 
the  only  conditions  the  Mongol  general  would  accept  were  the 
surrender  of  the  Kin  ruler  and  his  resignation  of  the  impe- 
rial title  in  exchange  for  the  principality  of  Honan.  Utubu, 
low  as  he  had  sunk,  declined  to  abase  himself  further  and  to 
purchase  life  at  the  loss  of  his  dignity.  The  sudden  death 
of  Muhula  gained  a  brief  respite  for  the  distressed  Chinese 
potentate,  but  the  advantage  was  not  of  any  permanent  sig- 
nificance ;  first  of  all  because  the  Kins  were  too  exhausted  by 
their  long  struggle,  and,  secondly,  because  Genghis  hastened 
to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army.  The  news  of  the 
death  of  Muhula  reached  him  when  he  was  encamped  on 
the  frontier  of  India  and  preparing  to  add  the  conquest  of 
that  country  to  his  many  other  triumphs  in  Central  and 
Western  Asia.  He  at  once  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
must  return  to  set  his  house  in  order  at  home,  and  to  pre- 
vent all  the  results  of  Muhula's  remarkable  triumphs  being 
lost.  What  was  a  disadvantage  for  China  proved  a  benefit 
for  India,  and  possibly  for  Europe,  as  there  is  no  saying 
how  much  further  the  Mongol  encroachment  might  have 
extended  westward,  if  the  direction  of  Genghis  had  not 
been  withdrawn.  While  Genghis  was  hastening  from  the 
Cabul  River  to  the  Kerulon,  across  the  Hindoo  Koosh  and 
Tian  Shan  ranges,  Utubu  died  and  Ninkiassu  reigned  in 
his  stead. 

One  of  the  first  consequences  of  the  death  of  Muhula 
was  that  the  young  king  of  Hia,  believing  that  the  fort- 
unes of  the  Mongols  would  then  wane,  and  that  he  might 
obtain  a  position  of  greater  power  and  independence,  threw 
off  his  allegiance,  and  adopted  hostile  measures  against 
them.  The  prompt  return  of  Genghis  nipped  this  plan  in 
the  bud,  but  it  was  made  quite  evident  that  the  conquest 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST    OF   CHINA.  98 

of  Hia  was  essential  to  the  success  of  any  permanent  an- 
nexation of  Chinese  territory,  and  as  its  prince  could  dis- 
pose of  an  army  which  he  boasted  numbered  half  a  million 
of  men,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  he  took  a  whole  year 
in  perfecting  his  arrangements  for  so  grave  a  contest.  The 
war  began  in  1225  and  continued  for  two  years.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  Mongol  army  was  decisive  and  unqualified.  The 
Hias  were  defeated  in  several  battles,  and  in  one  of  them 
fought  upon  the  frozen  waters  of  the  Hoangho.  Genghis 
broke  the  ice  by  means  of  his  engines,  and  the  Hia  army  was 
almost  annihilated.  The  king  Leseen  was  deposed,  and  Hia 
became  a  Mongol  province. 

It  was  immediately  after  this  successful  war  that  Genghis 
was  seized  with  his  fatal  illness.  Signs  had  been  seen  in 
the  heavens  which  the  Mongol  astrologers  said  indicated  the 
near  approach  of  his  death.  The  five  planets  had  appeared 
together  in  the  southwest,  and  so  much  impressed  was  Gen- 
ghis by  this  phenomenon  that  on  his  death-bed  he  expressed 
"the  earnest  desire  that  henceforth  the  lives  of  our  enemies 
shall  not  be  unnecessarily  sacrificed."  The  expression  of 
this  wish  undoubtedly  tended  to  mitigate  the  terrors  of  war 
as  carried  on  by  the  Mongols.  The  immediate  successors 
of  Genghis  conducted  their  campaigns  after  a  more  humane 
fashion,  and  it  was  not  until  Timour  revived  the  early  Mon- 
gol massacres  that  their  opponents  felt  there  was  no  chance 
in  appealing  to  the  humanity  of  the  Mongols.  Various  ac- 
counts have  been  published  of  the  cause  of  his  death ;  some 
authorities  ascribing  it  to  violence,  either  by  an  arrow,  light- 
ning, or  drowning,  and  others  to  natural  causes.  The  event 
seems  to  have  unquestionably  happened  in  his  camp  on  the 
borders  of  Shansi,  August  27,  1227,  when  he  was  about 
sixty-five  years  of  age,  during  more  than  fifty  of  which  he 
had  enjoyed  supreme  command  of  his  own  tribe. 

The  area  of  the  undertakings  conducted  under  his  ey© 
was  more  vast  and  included  a  greater  number  of  countries 
than  was  the  case  with  any  other  conqueror.  Not  a  country 
from  the  Euxine  to  the  China  Sea  escaped  the  tramp  of  the 


100  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA, 

Mongol  horsemen,  and  if  we  include  the  achievements  of 
his  immediate  successors,  the  conquest  of  Russia,  Poland, 
and  Hungary,  the  plundering  of  Bulgaria,  Roumania,  and 
Bosnia,  the  final  subjection  of  China  and  its  southern  tribu- 
taries must  be  added  to  complete  the  tale  of  Mongol  triumph. 
The  sphere  of  Mongol  influence  extended  beyond  this  large 
portion  of  the  earth's  surface,  just  as  the  consequence  of  an 
explosion  cannot  be  restricted  to  the  immediate  scene  of  the 
disaster.  If  we  may  include  the  remarkable  achievements 
of  his  descendant  Baber,  and  of  that  prince's  grandson  Ak- 
bar,  in  India  three  centuries  later,  not  a  country  in  Asia 
enjoyed  immunity  from  the  effect  of  their  successes.  Per- 
haps the  most  important  result  of  their  great  outpouring 
into  Western  Asia — which  certainly  was  the  arrest  of  the 
Mohammedan  career  in  Central  Asia,  and  the  diversion  of 
the  current  of  the  fanatical  propagators  of  the  Prophet's 
creed  against  Europe — is  not  yet  as  fully  recognized  as  it 
should  be.  The  doubt  has  been  already  expressed  whether 
the  Mongols  would  ever  have  risen  to  higher  rank  than  that 
of  a  nomad  tribe  but  for  the  appearance  of  Genghis.  Leav- 
ing that  supposition  in  the  category  of  other  interesting  but 
problematical  conjectures,  it  may  be  asserted  that  Genghis 
represented  in  their  highest  forms  all  the  qualities  which 
entitled  his  race  to  exercise  governing  authority.  He  was, 
moreover,  a  military  genius  of  the  very  first  order,  and  it 
may  be  questioned  whether  either  Csesar  or  Napoleon  can 
as  commanders  be  placed  on  a  par  with  him.  Even  the 
Chinese  said  that  he  led  his  armies  like  a  god.  The  man- 
ner in  which  he  moved  large  bodies  of  men  over  vast  dis- 
tances without  an  apparent  effort,  the  judgment  he  showed 
in  the  conduct  of  several  wars  in  countries  far  apart  from 
each  other,  his  strategy  in  unknown  regions,  always  on  the 
alert,  yet  never  allowing  hesitation  or  overcaution  to  inter- 
fere with  his  enterprise,  tne  sieges  which  he  brought  to  a 
successful  termination,  his  brilliant  victories,  a  succession 
of  "suns  of  Austerlitz,"  all  combined  make  up  the  picture 
of  a  career  to  which  Europe  can  offer  nothing  that  will  sur- 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF  CHINA.  101 

pass,  if  indeed  she  has  anything  to  bear  comparison  with  it. 
After  the  lapse  of  centuries,  and  in  spite  of  the  indifference 
with  which  the  great  figures  of  Asiatic  history  have  been 
treated,  the  name  of  Genghis  preserves  its  magic  spell.  It 
is  still  a  name  to  conjure  with  when  recording  the  great 
revolutions  of  a  period  which  beheld  the  death  of  the  old 
system  in  China,  and  the  advent  in  that  country  of  a  newer 
and  more  vigorous  government  which,  slowly  acquiring 
shape  in  the  hands  of  Kublai  and  a  more  national  form 
under  the  Mings,  has  attained  the  pinnacle  of  its  utility 
and  strength  under  the  influence  of  the  great  emperors  of 
the  Manchu  dynasty.  But  great  as  is  the  reputation  Gen- 
ghis has  acquired  it  is  probably  short  of  his  merits.  He  is 
remembered  as  a  relentless  and  irresistible  conqueror,  a  hu- 
man scourge ;  but  he  was  much  more.  He  was  one  of  the 
greatest  instruments  of  destiny,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
molders  of  the  fate  of  nations  to  be  met  with  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  His  name  still  overshadows  Asia  with  its 
fame,  and  the  tribute  of  our  admiration  cannot  be  denied. 
The  death  of  Genghis  did  not  seriously  retard  the  progress 
of  the  war  against  the  Kins.  He  expressed  the  wish  that 
war  should  be  carried  on  in  a  more  humane  and  less  vindic- 
tive manner,  but  he  did  not  advocate  there  being  no  war  or 
the  abandonment  of  any  of  his  enterprises.  His  son  and 
successor  Ogotai  was  indeed  specially  charged  to  bring  the 
conquest  of  China  to  a  speedy  and  victorious  conclusion. 
The  weakness  of  the  Mongol  confederacy  was  the  delay  con- 
nected with  the  proclamation  of  a  new  Khan  and  the  neces- 
sity of  summoning  to  a  Grand  Council  all  the  princes  and 
generals  of  the  race,  although  it  entailed  the  suspension 
and  often  the  abandonment  of  great  enterprises.  The  death 
of  Genghis  saved  India  but  not  China.  Almost  his  last 
instructions  were  to  draw  up  the  plan  for  attacking  and 
turning  the  great  fortress  of  Tunkwan,  which  had  provided 
such  an  efficient  defense  for  Honan  on  the  north,  and  in 
1230,  Ogotai,  who  had  already  partitioned  the  territory  taken 
from  the  Kins  into  ten  departments,  took  the  field  in  person, 


102  A    SHORT  HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

giving  a  joint  command  to  his  brother  Tuli,  under  whom 
served  the  experienced  generals  Yeliu  Chutsia,  Antchar, 
and  Subutai.  At  first  the  Mongols  met  with  no  great  suc- 
cess, and  the  Kins,  encouraged  by  a  momentary  gleam  of 
victory,  ventured  to  reject  the  terms  offered  by  Ogotai  and 
to  insult  his  envoy.  The  only  important  fighting  during 
the  years  1230-31  occurred  round  Fongsian,  which  after  a 
long  siege  surrendered  to  Antchar,  and  when  the  campaign 
closed  the  Kins  presented  a  bold  front  to  the  Mongols  and 
still  hoped  to  retain  their  power  and  dominions. 

In  1232  the  Mongols  increased  their  armies  in  the  field, 
and  attacked  the  Kins  from  two  sides.  Ogotai  led  the  main 
force  against  Honan,  while  Tuli,  marching  through  Shensi 
into  Szchuen,  assailed  them  on  their  western  flank.  The 
difficulties  encountered  by  Tuli  on  this  march,  when  he  had 
to  make  his  own  roads,  were  such  that  he  entered  the  Kin 
territories  with  a  much  reduced  and  exhausted  army.  The 
Kin  forces  gained  some  advantage  over  it,  but  by  either  a 
feigned  or  a  forced  retreat,  Tuli  succeeded  in  baffling  their 
pursuit,  and  in  effecting  a  junction  with  his  brother  Ogotai, 
who  had  met  with  better  fortune.  Tuli  destroyed  every- 
thing along  his  line  of  march,  and  his  massacres  and  sacks 
revived  the  worst  traditions  of  Mongol  ferocity.  In  these 
straits  the  Kins  endeavored  to  flood  the  country  round  their 
capital,  to  which  the  Mongols  had  now  advanced,  but  the 
Mongols  fell  upon  the  workmen  while  engaged  in  the  task, 
and  slew  ten  thousand  of  them.  When  the  main  Kin  army 
accepted  battle  before  the  town  of  Yuchow,  it  was  signally 
defeated,  with  the  loss  of  three  of  its  principal  generals,  and 
Ninkiassu  fled  from  Kaifong  to  a  place  more  removed  from 
the  scene  of  war.  The  garrison  and  townspeople  of  Kaifong 
—an  immense  city  with  walls  thirty-six  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence, and  a  population  during  the  siege,  it  is  said,  of  one 
mil}' on  four  hundred  thousand  families,  or  nearly  seven  mil- 
lion people — offered  a  stubborn  resistance  to  the  Mongols, 
who  intrusted  the  conduct  of  the  attack  to  Subutai,  the  most 
daring  of  all  their  commanders.      The  Mongols  employed 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  103 

their  most  formidable  engines,  catapults  hurling  immense 
stones,  and  mortars  ejecting  explosives  and  combustibles, 
but  twelve  months  elapsed  before  the  walls  were  shattered 
and  the  courage  and  provisions  of  the  defenders  exhausted. 
Then  Kaifong  surrendered  at  discretion,  and  Subutai  wished 
to  massacre  the  whole  of  the  population.  But  fortunately 
for  the  Chinese,  Yeliu  Chutsai  was  a  more  humane  and  a 
more  influential  general,  and  under  his  advice  Ogotai  re- 
jected the  cruel  proposal. 

At  this  moment,  when  it  seemed  impossible  for  fate  to 
have  any  worse  experience  in  store  for  the  unfortunate  Kins, 
their  old  enemies,  the  Sungs,  wishing  to  give  them  the  coup 
de  grdce,  declared  war  upon  them,  and  placed  a  large  army 
in  the  field  under  their  best  general,  Mongkong,  of  whom 
more  will  be  heard.  The  relics  of  the  Kin  army,  under  their 
sovereign  Ninkiassu,  took  shelter  in  Tsaichau,  where  they 
were  closely  besieged  by  the  Mongols  on  one  side  and  the 
Sungs  on  the  other.  Driven  thus  into  a  corner,  the  Kins 
fought  with  the  courage  of  despair  and  long  held  out  against 
the  combined  efforts  of  their  enemies.  At  last  Ninkiassu 
saw  that  the  struggle  could  not  be  prolonged,  and  he  pre- 
pared himself  to  end  his  life  and  career  in  a  manner  worthy 
of  the  race  from  which  he  sprang.  "When  the  enemy  broke 
into  the  city,  and  he  heard  the  stormers  at  the  gate  of  his 
palace,  he  retired  to  an  upper  chamber  and  set  fire  to  the 
building.  Many  of  his  generals,  and  even  of  his  soldiers, 
followed  his  example,  preferring  to  end  their  existence  rather 
than  to  add  to  the  triumph  of  their  Mongol  and  Sung  oppo- 
nents. Thus  came  to  an  end  in  1234  the  famous  dynasty  of 
the  Kins,  who  under  nine  emperors  had  ruled  Northern  China 
for  one  hundred  and  eighteen  years,  and  whose  power  and 
military  capacity  may  best  be  gauged  by  the  fact  that  with- 
out a  single  ally  they  held  out  against  the  all-powerful  Mon- 
gols for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Ninkiassu,  the 
last  of  their  rulers,  was  not  able  to  sustain  the  burden  of 
their  authority,  but  he  at  least  showed  himself  equal  to  end- 
ing it  in  a  worthy  and  appropriately  dramatic  manner. 


104  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

The  folly  of  the  Sungs  had  completed  the  discomfiture  of 
the  Kins,  and  had  brought  to  their  own  borders  the  terrible 
peril  which  had  beset  every  other  state  in  Asia,  and  which 
had  in  almost  every  case  entailed  destruction.  How  could 
the  Sungs  expect  to  avoid  the  same  fate,  or  to  propitiate  the 
most  implacable  and  insatiable  of  conquering  races?  They 
had  done  this  to  a  large  extent  with  their  eyes  open.  More 
than  once  in  the  early  stages  of  the  struggle  the  Kin  rulers 
had  sent  envoys  to  beg  their  alliance,  and  to  warn  them  that 
if  they  did  not  help  in  keeping  out  the  Mongols,  their  time 
would  come  to  be  assailed  and  to  share  in  the  common  ruin. 
But  Ningtsong  did  not  pay  heed  to  the  warning,  and  scarcely 
concealed  his  gratification  at  the  misfortunes  of  his  old  op- 
ponents. The  nearer  the  Mongols  came,  and  the  worse  the 
plight  to  which  the  Kins  were  reduced,  the  more  did  he  re- 
joice. He  forgave  Tuli  the  violation  of  Sung  territory,  nec- 
essary for  his  flank  attack  on  Honan,  and  when  the  knell  ot 
the  Kins  sounded  at  the  fall  of  Kaifong,  he  hastened  to  help 
in  striking  the  final  blow  at  them,  and  to  participate,  as  he 
hoped,  in  the  distribution  of  the  plunder.  By  this  time  Lit- 
song  had  succeeded  his  cousin  Ningtsong  as  ruler  of  the 
Sungs,  and  it  is  said  that  he  received  from  Tsaichau  the 
armor  and  personal  spoils  of  N'inkiassu,  which  he  had  the  sat- 
isfaction of  offering  up  in  the  temple  of  his  ancestors.  But 
when  he  requested  the  Mongols  to  comply  with  the  more  im- 
portant part  of  the  convention,  by  which  the  Sung  forces 
had  joined  the  Mongols  before  Tsaichau,  and  to  evacuate 
the  province  of  Honan,  he  experienced  a  rude  awakening 
from  his  dream  that  the  overthrow  of  the  Kins  would  re- 
dound to  his  advantage,  and  he  soon  realized  what  value 
the  Mongols  attached  to  his  alliance.  The  military  capac- 
ity of  Mongkong  inspired  the  Sung  ruler  with  confidence, 
and  he  called  upon  the  Mongols  to  execute  their  promises, 
or  to  prepare  for  war.  The  Mongol  garrisons  made  ne 
movement  of  retreat,  and  the  utmost  that  Litsong  wa* 
offered  was  a  portion  of  Honan,  if  it  could  be  practically 
divided.      The  proposition  was  probably  meant  ironically, 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  105 

but  at  all  events  Litsong  rejected  it,  and  sent  Mongkong 
to  take  by  force  possession  of  the  disputed  province.  The 
Mongol  forces  on  the  spot  were  fewer  than  the  Chinese,  and 
they  met  with  some  reverses.  But  the  hope  of  the  Sungs 
that  the  fortune  of  war  would  declare  in  their  favor  was 
soon  destroyed  by  the  vast  preparations  of  the  Mongols, 
who,  at  a  special  kuriltai,  held  at  Karakoram,  declared  that 
the  conquest  of  China  was  to  be  completed.  Then  Litsong's 
confidence  left  him,  and  he  sent  an  appeal  for  peace  to  the 
Mongols,  giving  up  all  claim  to  Honan,  and  only  asking  to 
be  left  in  undisturbed  possession  of  his  original  dominions. 
It  was  too  late.  The  Mongols  had  passed  their  decree  that 
the  Sungs  were  to  be  treated  like  the  Kins,  and  that  the  last 
Chinese  government  was  to  be  destroyed. 

In  1235,  the  year  following  the  immolation  of  Ninkiassu, 
the  Mongols  placed  half  a  million  men  in  the  field  for  the 
purpose  of  destroying  the  Sung  power,  and  Ogotai  divided 
them  into  three  armies,  which  were  to  attack  Litsong's  king- 
dom from  as  many  sides.  The  Mongol  ruler  intrusted  the 
most  difficult  task  to  his  son  Kutan,  who  invaded  the  inac- 
cessible and  vast  province  of  Szchuen,  at  the  head  of  one  of 
these  armies.  Notwithstanding  its  natural  capacity  for  offer- 
ing an  advantageous  defense,  the  Chinese  turned  their  op- 
portunities to  poor  account,  and  the  Mongols  succeeded  in 
capturing  all  its  frontier  fortresses,  with  little  or  no  resist- 
ance. The  shortcomings  of  the  defense  can  be  inferred  from 
the  circumstances  of  the  Chinese  annalists  making  special 
mention  of  one  governor  having  had  the  courage  to  die  at 
his  post.  For  some  reason  not  clearly  stated  the  Mongols 
did  not  attempt  to  retain  possession  of  Szchuen  on  this  occa- 
sion. They  withdrew  when  they  were  in  successful  occupa- 
tion of  the  northern  half  of  the  province,  and  when  it  seemed 
as  if  the  other  lay  at  their  mercy.  In  the  two  dual  provinces 
of  Kiangnan  and  Houkwang,  the  other  Mongol  armies  met 
with  considerable  success,  which  was  dimmed,  however,  by 
the  death  of  Kuchu,  the  son  and  proclaimed  heir  of  Ogotai. 
This  event,  entailing  no  inconsiderable  doubt  and  long-con- 


104  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

tinued  disputes  as  to  the  succession,  was  followed  by  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Mongol  forces  from  Sung  territory,  anil 
during  the  last  six  years  of  his  life  Ogotai  abstained  from 
war,  and  gave  himself  up  to  the  indulgence  of  his  gluttony. 
He  built  a  great  palace  at  Karakoram,  where  his  ancestors 
had  been  content  to  live  in  a  tent,  and  he  intrusted  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  old  Kin  dominions  to  Yeliu  Chutsai,  who  ac- 
quired great  popularity  among  the  Chinese  for  his  clemency 
and  regard  for  their  customs.  Yeliu  Chutsai  adopted  the 
Chinese  mode  of  taxation,  and  when  Ogotai's  widow,  Tura- 
kina,  who  acted  as  regent  after  her  husband's  death,  ordered 
him  to  alter  his  system  and  to  farm  out  the  revenues,  ha 
sent  in  his  resignation,  and,  it  is  said,  died  of  grief  shortly 
afterward.  Ogotai  was  one  of  the  most  humane  and  ami- 
able of  all  the  Mongol  rulers,  and  Yeliu  Chutsai  imitated  his 
master.  Of  the  latter  the  Chinese  contemporary  writers  said 
"he  was  distinguished  by  a  rare  disinterestedness.  Of  a 
very  broad  intellect,  he  was  able,  without  injustice  and 
without  wronging  a  single  person,  to  amass  vast  treasures 
(D'Ohsson  says  only  of  books,  maps,  and  pictures),  and  to 
enrich  his  family,  but  all  his  care  and  labors  had  for  their 
sole  object  the  advantage  and  glory  of  his  masters.  Wise 
and  calculating  in  his  plans,  he  did  little  of  which  he  had 
any  reason  to  repent.' * 

During  the  five  years  following  the  death  of  Ogotai,  the 
Mongols  were  absorbed  in  the  question  who  should  be  their 
next  Great  Khan,  and  it  was  only  after  a  warm  and  pro- 
tracted discussion,  which  threatened  to  entail  the  disruption 
of  Mongol  power,  and  the  revelation  of  many  rivalries 
among  the  descendants  of  Genghis,  that  Kuyuk,  the  eldest 
son  of  Ogotai,  was  proclaimed  emperor.  At  the  kuriltai 
held  for  this  purpose,  all  the  great  Mongol  leaders  were 
present,  including  Batu,  the  conqueror  of  Hungary,  and 
after  the  Mongol  chiefs  had  agreed  as  to  their  chief,  the 
captive  kings,  Yaroslaf  of  Russia  and  David  of  Georgia, 
paid  homage  to  their  conqueror.  We  owe  to  the  monk 
Carpino,  who  was  sent  by  the  Pope  to  convert  the  Mon- 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  10? 

gol,  a  graphic  account  of  one  of  the  most  brilliant  ceremo- 
nies to  be  met  with  in  the  whole  course  of  Mongol  history. 
The  delay  in  selecting  Kuyuk,  whose  principal  act  of  sover- 
eignty was  to  issue  a  seal  having  this  inscription:  "God in 
Heaven  and  Kuyuk  on  earth;  by  the  power  of  God  the 
ruler  of  all  men,"  had  given  the  Sungs  one  respite,  and  his 
early  death  procured  them  another.  Kuyuk  died  in  1248, 
and  his  cousin,  Mangu,  the  son  of  Tuli,  was  appointed  his 
successor.  By  this  time  the  Mongol  chiefs  of  the  family  of 
Genghis  in  Western  Asia  were  practically  independent  of 
the  nominal  Great  Khan,  and  governed  their  states  in  com- 
plete sovereignty,  and  waged  war  without  reference  to 
Karakoram.  This  change  left  the  Mongols  in  their  origi- 
nal home  of  the  Amour  absolutely  free  to  devote  all  their 
attention  to  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Sungs,  and  Mangu 
declared  that  he  would  know  no  rest  until  he  had  finally 
subjected  the  last  of  the  Chinese  ruling  families.  In  this 
resolution  Mangu  received  the  hearty  support  of  bis  younger 
but  more  able  brother,  Kublai,  to  whom  was  intrusted  the 
direction  in  the  field  of  the  armies  sent  to  complete  the  con- 
quest of  China. 

Kublai  received  this  charge  in  1251,  so  that  the  Sungs 
had  enjoyed,  first  through  the  pacific  disposition  of  Ogotai, 
and,  secondly,  from  the  family  disputes  following  his  death, 
peace  for  more  than  fifteen  years.  The  advantage  of  this 
tranquillity  was  almost  nullified  by  the  death  of  Mongkong, 
a  general  whose  reputation  may  have  been  easily  gained, 
but  who  certainly  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his  soldiers,  and 
who  was  thought  by  his  countrymen  to  be  the  best  com- 
mander of  his  day.  When  the  Chinese  emperor,  Litsong, 
saw  the  storm  again  approaching  his  northern  frontier,  he 
found  that  he  had  lost  the  main  support  of  his  power,  and 
that  his  military  resources  were  inferior  to  those  of  his 
enemy.  He  had  allowed  himself  to  be  lulled  into  a  false 
sense  of  security  by  the  long  inaction  of  the  Mongols,  and 
although  he  seems  to  have  been  an  amiable  prince,  and  a 
typical  Chinese  ruler,  honoring  the  descendants  of  Confucius 


J08  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

with  the  hereditary  title  of  duke,  which  still  remains  in  that 
family,  and  is  the  only  title  of  its  kind  in  China,  and  en- 
couraging the  literary  classes  of  his  country,  he  was  a  bad 
sovereign  to  be  intrusted  with  the  task  of  defending  his 
realm  and  people  against  a  bold  and  determined  enemy. 

Kublai  prepared  the  way  for  his  campaigns  in  Southern 
China  by  following  a  very  wise  and  moderate  policy  In 
Northern  China  similar  to  that  begun  by  Muhula,  and  car- 
ried out  with  greater  effect  by  Yeliu  Chutsai.  He  had 
enjoyed  the  advantage  of  a  Chinese  education,  imparted 
by  an  able  tutor  named  Yaochu,  who  became  the  prince's 
private  secretary  and  mentor  in  all  Chinese  matters.  At 
his  instigation,  or,  at  least,  with  his  co-operation,  Kublai 
took  in  hand  the  restoration  of  the  southern  portion  of 
Honan,  which  had  been  devastated  during  the  wars,  and 
he  succeeded  in  bringing  back  its  population  and  prosperity 
to  that  great  province  of  Central  China.  He  thus  secured  a 
base  for  his  operations  close  to  the  Sung  frontier,  while  he 
attached  to  his  person  a  large  section  of  the  Chinese  nation. 
There  never  was  any  concealment  that  this  patronage  of 
Chinese  officials,  and  these  measures  for  the  amelioration 
of  many  millions  of  Chinese  subjects,  were  the  well  calcu- 
lated preliminaries  to  the  invasion  of  Southern  China  and 
the  extinction  of  the  Sung  dynasty. 

If  Kublai  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  wise  adviser  in 
Yaochu,  he  was  not  less  fortunate  in  procuring  a  great 
general  in  the  person  of  Uriangkadai,  the  son  of  Subutai, 
and  his  remarkable  and  unvarying  successes  were  largely 
due  to  the  efforts  of  those  two  men  in  the  cabinet  and  the 
field.  The  plan  of  campaign,  drawn  up  with  great  care 
and  forethought  by  the  prince  and  his  lieutenant,  had  the 
double  merit  of  being  both  bold  and  original.  Its  main 
purpose  was  not  one  that  the  Sung  generals  would  be  likely 
to  divine.  It  was  determined  to  make  a  flank  march  round 
the  Sung  dominions,  and  to  occupy  what  is  now  the  prov- 
ince of  Yunnan;  and,  by  placing  an  army  in  the  rear  of 
their  kingdom,  to  attack  them  eventually  from  two  sides. 


THE    MONGOL   CONQUEST  OF  CHINA.  109 

At  this  time  Yunnan  formed  an  independent  state,  and  its 
ruler,  from  his  position  behind  the  Sung  territory,  must 
have  fancied  himself  secure  against  any  attack  by  the  Mon- 
gols. He  was  destined  to  a  rude  awakening.  Kublai  and 
Uriangkadai,  marching  across  Szchuen  and  crossing  the 
Kinchakiang,  or  "river  of  golden  sand,"  which  forms  the 
upper  course  of  the  Great  River,  on  rafts,  burst  into  Yun- 
nan, speedily  vanquished  the  frontier  garrisons,  and  laid 
siege  to  the  capital,  Talifoo.  That  town  did  not  hold  out 
long,  and  soon  Kublai  was  in  a  position  to  return  to  his 
own  state,  leaving  Uriangkadai  with  a  considerable  gar- 
rison in  charge  of  Yunnan.  That  general,  believing  that 
his  position  would  be  improved  by  his  resorting  to  an  active 
offensive,  carried  the  standard  of  his  race  against  the  many 
turbulent  tribes  in  his  neighborhood,  and  invaded  Burma 
whose  king,  after  one  campaign,  was  glad  to  recognize  the 
supremacy  of  the  Mongols.  The  success  and  the  boldness, 
which  may  have  been  considered  temerity,  of  this  cam- 
paign, raised  up  enemies  to  Kublai  at  the  court  of  Kara- 
koram,  and  the  mind  of  his  brother  Mangu  was  poisoned 
against  him  by  many  who  declared  that  Kublai  aspired  to 
complete  independence.  These  designs  so  far  succeeded, 
that  in  1257  Mangu  finally  deprived  Kublai  of  all  his  com- 
mands, and  ordered  him  to  proceed  to  Karakoram.  At  this 
harsh  and  unmerited  treatment  Kublai  showed  himself  in- 
clined to  rebel  and  dispute  his  brothers  authority.  If  he 
had  done  this,  although  the  provocation  was  great,  he 
would  have  confirmed  the  charges  of  his  accusers,  and  a 
war  would  have  broken  out  among  the  Mongols  which 
would  probably  have  rent  their  power  in  twain  in  Eastern 
Asia.  But  fortunately  Yaochu  was  at  hand  to  give  pru- 
dent advice,  and  after  much  hesitation  Kublai  yielded  to 
the  impressive  exhortations  of  his  experienced  and  sagacious 
minister.  He  is  reported  to  have  addressed  Kublai  in  the 
following  terms:  "Prince!  You  are  the  brother  of  the  em- 
peror, but  you  are  not  the  less  his  subject.  You  cannot, 
without  committing  a  crime,  question  his  decisions,  and. 


tlO  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA, 

moreover,  if  you  were  to  do  so,  it  would  only  result  in 
placing  you  in  a  more  dangerous  predicament,  out  of  which 
you  could  hardly  succeed  in  extricating  yourself,  as  you  are 
so  far  distant  from  the  capital  where  your  enemies  seek  to 
injure  you.  My  advice  is  that  you  should  send  your  family 
to  Mangu,  and  by  this  step  you  will  justify  yourself  and  re- 
move any  suspicions  there  may  be.*' 

Kublai  adopted  this  wise  course,  and  proceeded  in  person 
to  Karakoram,  where  he  succeeded  in  proving  his  innocence 
and  in  discomfiting  his  enemies.  It  is  said  that  Mangu  was 
so  affected  at  the  mere  sight  of  his  brother  that  he  at  once 
forgave  him  without  waiting  for  an  explanation  and  rein- 
stated him  in  all  his  offices.  To  ratify  this  reconciliation 
Mangu  proclaimed  that  he  would  take  the  field  in  person, 
and  that  Kublai  should  hold  joint  command  with  himself, 
When  he  formed  this  resolution  to  proceed  to  China  in  per- 
son, he  appointed  his  next  brother,  Arikbuka,  to  act  as  his 
lieutenant  in  Mongolia.  It  is  necessary  to  recollect  this  ar- 
rangement, as  Mangu  died  during  the  campaign,  and  it  led 
to  the  separation  of  the  Chinese  empire  and  the  Mongolian, 
which  were  divided  after  that  event  between  Kublai  and 
Arikbuka. 

Mangu  did  not  come  to  his  resolution  to  prosecute  the 
war  with  the  Sungs  any  too  soon,  for  Uriangkadai  was  be- 
ginning to  find  his  isolated  position  not  free  from  danger. 
Large  as  the  army  of  that  general  was,  and  skillfully  as  he 
tad  endeavored  to  improve  his  position  by  strengthening 
the  fortresses  and  recruiting  from  the  warlike  tribes  of 
Yunnan,  Uriangkadai  found  himse1^  threatened  by  the 
collected  armies  of  the  Sungs,  who  occupied  Szchuen  with 
a  large  garrison  and  menaced  the  daring  Mongol  general 
with  the  whole  of  their  power.  There  seems  every  reason 
to  believe  that  if  the  Sungs  had  acted  with  only  ordinary 
promptitude  they  might  have  destroyed  this  Mongol  army 
long  before  any  aid  could  have  reached  it  from  the  north. 
Once  Mangu  had  formed  his  resolution  the  rapidity  of  his 
movements  left  the  Sungs  little  or  no  chance  of  attacking 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST    OF   CHINA.  Ill 

Uriangkadai.  This  campaign  began  in  the  winter  of  1257, 
when  the  troops  were  able  to  cross  the  frozen  waters  of  the 
Hoangho,  and  the  immense  Mongol  army  was  divided  into 
three  bodies,  while  Uriangkadai  was  ordered  to  march  north 
and  effect  a  junction  with  his  old  chief  Kublai  in  Szchuen. 
The  principal  fighting  of  the  first  year  occurred  in  this  part 
of  China,  and  Mangu  hastened  there  with  another  of  his 
armies.  The  Sung  garrison  was  large,  and  showed  great 
courage  and  fortitude.  The  difficulty  of  the  country  and 
the  strength  of  several  of  their  fortresses  seconded  their 
efforts,  and  after  two  years'  fighting  the  Mongols  felt  so 
doubtful  of  success  that  they  held  a  council  of  war  to  de- 
cide whether  they  should  retreat  or  continue  to  prosecute 
the  struggle.  It  has  been  said  that  councils  of  war  do  not 
come  to  bold  resolutions,  but  this  must  have  been  an  excep- 
tion, as  it  decided  not  to  retreat,  and  to  make  one  more 
determined  effort  to  overcome  the  Chinese.  The  campaign 
of  1259  began  with  the  siege  of  Hochau,  a  strong  fortress, 
held  by  a  valiant  garrison  and  commander,  and  to  whose 
aid  a  Chinese  army  under  Luwenti  was  hastening.  The 
governor,  "Wangkien,  offered  a  stout  resistance,  and  Lu- 
wenti succeeded  in  harassing  the  besiegers;  but  the  fall  of 
the  fortress  appeared  assured,  when  a  new  and  more  formi- 
dable  defender  arrived  in  the  form  of  dysentery.  The  Mon- 
gol camp  was  ravaged  by  this  foe,  Mangu  himself  died  of 
the  disease,  and  those  of  the  Mongols  who  escaped  beat  a 
hasty  and  disorderly  retreat  back  to  the  north.  Once  more 
the  Sungs  obtained  a  brief  respite. 

The  death  of  Mangu  threatened  fresh  disputes  and  strife 
among  the  Mongol  royal  family.  Kublai  was  his  brother's 
lawful  heir,  but  Arikbuka,  the  youngest  of  the  brothers, 
was  in  possession  of  Karakoram,  and  supreme  throughout 
Mongolia.  He  was  hostile  to  Kublai,  and  disposed  to  assert 
all  his  rights  and  to  make  the  most  of  his  opportunities.  No 
Great  Khan  could  be  proclaimed  anywhere  save  at  Karako- 
ram, and  Arikbuka  would  not  allow  his  brother  to  gain  that 
place,  the  cradle  of  their  race  and  dynasty,  unless  he  could 


112  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

do  so  by  force  of  arms.  Kublai  attempted  to  solve  the  diffU 
culty  by  holding  a  grand  council  near  his  favorite  city  of 
Cambaluc,  the  modern  Pekin,  and  he  sent  forth  his  procla- 
mation to  the  Mongols  as  their  Khan.  But  they  refused  to 
recognize  one  who  was  not  elected  in  the  orthodox  fashion 
at  Karakoram;  and  Arikbuka  not  merely  defied  Kublai,  but 
summoned  his  own  kuriltai  at  Karakoram,  where  he  was 
proclaimed  Khakhan  in  the  most  formal  manner  and  with 
all  the  accustomed  ceremonies.  Arikbuka  was  undoubtedly 
popular  among  the  Mongols,  while  Kublai,  who  was  re- 
garded as  half  a  Chinese  on  account  of  his  education,  had 
a  far  greater  reputation  south  of  the  wall  than  north  of  it. 
Kublai  could  not  tolerate  the  open  defiance  of  his  authority, 
and  the  contempt  shown  for  what  was  his  birthright,  by 
Arikbuka;  and  in  1261  he  advanced  upon  Karakoram  at 
the  head  of  a  large  army.  A  single  battle  sufficed  to  dis- 
pose of  Arikbuka's  pretensions,  and  that  prince  was  glad  to 
find  a  place  of  refuge  among  the  Kirghiz.  Kublai  proved 
himself  a  generous  enemy.  He  sent  Arikbuka  his  full  par- 
don, he  reinstated  him  in  his  rank  of  prince,  and  he  left  him 
virtually  supreme  among  the  Mongol  tribes.  He  retraced 
his  steps  to  Pekin,  fully  resolved  to  become  Chinese  emperor 
in  reality,  but  prepared  to  waive  his  rights  as  Mongol  Khan. 
Mangu  Khan  was  the  last  of  the  Mongol  rulers  whose  au- 
thority was  recognized  in  both  the  east  and  the  west,  and 
his  successor,  Kublai,  seeing  that  its  old  significance  had 
departed,  was  fain  to  establish  his  on  a  new  basis  in  the 
fertile,  ancient  and  wide-stretching  dominions  of  China. 

Before  Kublai  composed  the  difficulty  with  Arikbuka  he 
had  resumed  his  operations  against  the  Sungs,  and  even 
before  Mangu's  death  he  had  succeeded  in  establishing 
some  posts  south  of  the  Yangtsekiang,  in  the  impassabil- 
ity  of  which  the  Chinese  fondly  believed.  During  the  year 
1260  he  laid  siege  to  Wochow,  the  modern  Wouchang,  but 
he  failed  to  make  any  impression  on  the  fortress  on  this 
occasion,  and  he  agreed  to  the  truce  which  Litsong  pro- 
posed.    By  the  terms  of  this  agreement  Litsong  acknowl- 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST    OF   CHINA.  113 

edged  himself  a  Mongol  vassal,  just  as  his  ancestors  had 
subjected  themselves  to  the  Kins,  paid  a  large  tribute,  and 
forbade  his  generals  anywhere  to  attack  the  Mongols.  The 
last  stipulation  was  partly  broken  by  an  attack  on  the  rear 
of  Uriangkadai's  corps,  but  no  serious  results  followed,  for 
Kublai  was  well  satisfied  with  the  manner  in  which  the 
campaign  terminated,  as  there  is  no  doubt  that  his  advance 
across  the  Yangtsekiang  had  been  precipitate,  and  he  may 
have  thought  himself  lucky  to  escape  with  the  appearance 
of  success  and  the  conclusion  of  a  gratifying  treaty.  It  was 
with  the  reputation  gained  by  this  nominal  success,  and  by 
having  made  the  Sungs  his  tributaries,  that  Kublai  hastened 
northward  to  settle  his  rivalry  with  Arikbuka.  Having  ac- 
complished that  object  with  complete  success,  he  decided  to 
put  an  end  to  the  Sung  dynasty.  The  Chinese  emperor,  acting 
with  strange  fatuity,  had  given  fresh  cause  of  umbrage, 
and  had  provoked  a  war  by  many  petty  acts  of  discourtesy, 
culminating  in  the  murder  of  the  envoys  of  Kublai,  sent 
to  notify  him  of  his  proclamation  as  Great  Khan  of  the 
Mongols.  Probably  the  Sung  ruler  could  not  have  averted 
war  if  he  had  shown  the  greatest  forbearance  and  humility, 
but  this  cruel  and  inexcusable  act  precipitated  the  crisis  and 
the  extinction  of  his  attenuated  authority.  If  there  was 
any  delay  in  the  movements  of  Kublai  for  the  purpose  of 
exacting  reparation  for  this  outrage,  it  was  due  to  his  first 
having  to  arrange  a  difficulty  that  had  arisen  in  his  rela- 
tions with  the  King  of  Corea.  That  potentate  had  long 
preserved  the  peace  with  his  Mongol  neighbors,  and  per- 
haps he  would  have  remained  a  friend  without  any  inter- 
ruption, had  not  the  Mongols  done  something  which  was 
construed  as  an  infraction  of  Corean  liberty.  The  Corean 
love  of  independence  took  fire  at  the  threatened  diminution 
of  their  rights,  they  rose  en  masse  in  defense  of  their  coun- 
try, and  even  the  king,  Wangtien,  who  had  been  well  dis- 
posed to  the  Mongol  rulers,  declared  that  he  could  not  con- 
tinue the  alliance,  and  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
people.     Seeing  himself  thus  menaced  with  a  costly  war  in 


114  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

a  difficult  country  on  the  eve  of  a  more  necessary  and  hope- 
ful  contest,  Kublai  resorted  to  diplomacy.  He  addressed 
"Wangtien  in  complimentary  terms  and  disclaimed  all  in- 
tention of  injuring  the  Coreans,  with  whom  he  wished  to 
maintain  friendly  relations,  but  at  the  same  time  he  pointed 
out  the  magnitude  of  his  power  and  dilated  on  the  extent  of 
the  Mongol  conquests.  Half  by  flattery  and  half  by  menace 
Kublai  brought  the  Corean  court  to  reason,  and  Wangtien 
again  entered  into  bonds  of  alliance  with  Cambaluc  and  re- 
newed his  old  oaths  of  friendship. 

At  this  point  of  the  long  struggle  with  the  Sungs  it  will 
be  appropriate  to  consider  what  was  the  exact  position  of 
Kublai  with  regard  to  his  own  Chinese  subjects,  who  now 
formed  the  backbone  of  his  power.  By  this  time  Kublai 
had  become  to  all  practical  intents  and  purposes  a  Chinese 
emperor.  He  had  accepted  all  the  traditional  functions  of 
the  typical  Hwangti,  and  the  etiquette  and  splendor  of  his 
court  rivaled  that  of  the  Sungs.  He  had  not  merely  adopted 
the  Chinese  system  of  taxation  and  the  form  of  administra- 
tion to  which  the  larger  portion  of  his  officials,  being  of  Chi- 
nese race,  had  been  accustomed,  but  he  declared  himself  the 
patron  of  learning  and  of  Buddhism,  which  had  gained  a 
hold  on  the  minds  of  the  Mongols  that  it  has  not  lost  to  the 
present  day.  One  of  the  most  popular  of  his  early  measures 
had  been  the  order  to  liberate  all  the  literate  class  among  his 
Chinese  prisoners,  and  they  had  formed  the  nucleus  of  the 
civil  service  Kublai  attached  to  his  interests  and  utilized 
as  his  empire  expanded.  In  his  relations  with  Buddhism 
Kublai  showed  not  less  astuteness,  and  in  realizing  that  to 
attain  durable  success  he  must  appeal  to  the  religious  side  of 
human  character,  he  showed  that  he  had  the  true  instincts 
of  a  statesman. 

At  this  time  two  facts  were  clearly  apparent.  The  Chi- 
nese were  sunk  in  a  low  state  of  religious  disbelief,  and  the 
Sung  rulers  were  not  disposed  to  play  the  part  of  regen- 
erators of  their  country.  The  second  fact  was  that  the  only 
vigorous  religion  in  China,  or,  indeed,  in  Eastern  Asia,  was 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  115 

Buddhism,  which,  since  the  establishment  of  Brahmanism 
in  India,  had  taken  up  its  headquarters  in  Tibet,  where,  how- 
ever, the  supreme  authority  was  still  secular — that  is  to  say, 
it  was  invested  in  the  hands  of  a  prince  or  king,  and  not  in 
those  of  a  priest  or  Grand  Lama.  It  so  happened  that  there 
was  resident  at  Kublai's  court  a  Tibetan  priest,  of  the  family 
which  had  always  supplied  the  Sanpou  with  his  minister, 
who  gained  the  ear  of  Kublai,  and  convinced  him  how  politic 
and  advantageous  to  him  personally  it  would  be  if  he  were 
to  secure  the  co-operation  and  sympathy  of  his  priestly  order. 
Kublai  fell  in  with  his  plans,  and  proclaimed  his  friend  Pakba 
Lama,  and  sent  him  back  to  Tibet,  there  to  establish  the 
ecclesiastical  authority,  which  still  exists  in  that  country, 
in  intimate  alliance  and  sympathy  with  the  Chinese  rulers. 
By  this  and  other  similar  proceedings  Kublai  gained  over  to 
his  side  several  influential  classes  among  the  Chinese  people, 
and  many  reflecting  persons  thought  they  saw  in  him  a  true 
regenerator  of  the  empire,  and  a  worthy  successor  of  their 
greatest  rulers.  It  was,  therefore,  with  a  thoroughly  paci- 
fied country,  and  to  a  great  extent  a  contented  people,  that 
Kublai  began  his  last  war  with  the  rulers  of  Southern  China. 
In  1263  Kublai  issued  his  proclamation  of  war,  calling 
on  his  generals  "to  assemble  their  troops,  to  sharpen  their 
swords  and  their  pikes,  and  to  prepare  their  bows  and  ar- 
rows," for  he  intended  to  attack  the  Sungs  by  land  and  sea. 
The  treason  of  a  Chinese  general  in  his  service  named  Litan 
served  to  delay  the  opening  of  the  campaign  for  a  few  weeks, 
but  this  incident  was  of  no  importance,  as  Litan  was  soon 
overthrown  and  executed.  Brief  as  was  the  interval,  it  was 
marked  by  one  striking  and  important  event — the  death  of 
Litsong,  who  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  Chowki,  called 
the  Emperor  Toutsong.  Litsong  was  not  a  wise  ruler,  but, 
compared  with  many  of  his  successors,  he  might  be  more 
accurately  styled  unfortunate  than  incompetent.  Toutsong, 
and  his  weak  and  arrogant  minister,  Kiassetao,  hastened  to 
show  that  there  were  greater  heights  of  folly  than  any  to 
which  he  had  attained.     Acting  on  the  advice  of  a  renegade 


116  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

Sung  general,  well  acquainted  with  the  defenses  of  Southern 
China,  Kublai  altered  his  proposed  attack,  and  prepared  for 
crossing  the  Yangtsekiang  by  first  making  himself  supreme 
on  its  tributary,  the  Han  River.  His  earlier  attack  on 
Wouchang  has  been  described,  and  his  compulsory  retire- 
ment from  that  place  had  taught  him  the  evil  of  making  a 
premature  attack.  His  object  remained  the  same,  but  in- 
stead of  marching  direct  to  it  across  the  Yangtsekiang  he 
book  the  advice  of  the  Sung  general,  and  attacked  the  for- 
tress of  Sianyang  on  the  Han  River,  with  the  object  of  mak- 
ng  himself  supreme  on  that  stream,  and  wresting  from  the 
Sungs  the  last  first-class  fortress  they  possessed  in  the  north- 
west. By  the  time  all  these  preliminaries  were  completed 
and  the  Mongol  army  had  fairly  taken  the  field  it  was  1268, 
and  Kublai  sent  sixty  thousand  of  his  best  troops,  with  a 
'arge  number  of  auxiliaries,  to  lay  siege  to  Sianyang,  which 
was  held  by  a  large  garrison  and  a  resolute  governor.  The 
Mongol  lines  were  drawn  up  round  the  town,  and  also  its 
neighbor  of  Fanching,  situated  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
river,  with  which  communication  was  maintained  by  several 
bridges,  and  the  Mongols  built  a  large  fleet  of  fifty  war  junks, 
with  which  they  closed  the  Han  River  and  effectually  pre- 
vented any  aid  being  sent  up  it  from  Hankow  or  Wouchang. 
Liuwen  Hoan,  the  commandant  of  Sianyang,  was  a  brave 
man,  and  he  commanded  a  numerous  garrison  and  possessed 
supplies,  as  he  said,  to  stand  a  ten  years'  siege.  He  repulsed 
all  the  assaults  of  the  enemy,  and,  undaunted  by  his  isola- 
tion, replied  to  the  threats  of  the  Mongols,  to  give  him  no 
quarter  if  he  persisted  in  holding  out,  by  boasting  that  he 
would  hang  their  traitor  general  in  chains  before  his  sov- 
ereign. The  threats  and  vaunts  of  the  combatants  did  not 
bring  the.siege  any  nearer  to  an  end.  The  utmost  that  the 
Mongols  could  achieve  was  to  prevent  any  provisions  or  re- 
enforcements  being  thrown  into  the  town.  But  on  the  for- 
tress itself  they  made  no  impression.  Things  had  gone  on 
like  this  for  three  years,  and  the  interest  in  the  siege  had 
begun  to  languish,  when  Kublai  determined  to  make  a  su- 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF    CHINA.  117 

preme  effort  to  carry  the  place,  and  at  the  same  moment 
the  Sung  minister  came  to  the  conclusion  to  relieve  it  at  all 
hazards. 

The  campaign  of  1270  began  with  a  heroic  episode — the 
successful  dispatch  of  provisions  into  the  besieged  town,  un- 
der the  direction  of  two  Chinese  officers  named  Changkoua 
and  Changchun,  whose  names  deserve  to  be  long  remem- 
bered for  their  heroism.  The  flotilla  was  divided  into  two 
bodies,  one  composed  of  the  fighting,  the  other  of  the  store- 
ships.  The  Mongols  had  made  every  preparation  to  block- 
ade the  river,  but  the  suddenness  and  vigor  of  the  Chinese 
attack  surprised  them,  and,  at  first,  the  Chinese  had  the  best 
of  the  day.  But  soon  the  Mongols  recovered,  and  from  their 
superior  position  threatened  to  overwhelm  the  assailing  Chi- 
nese squadron.  In  this  perilous  moment  Changchun,  devot- 
ing himself  to  death  in  the  interest  of  his  country  collected 
all  his  war- junks,  and  making  a  desperate  attack  on  the 
Mongols,  succeeded  in  obtaining  sufficient  time  to  enable* 
the  storeships  under  Changkoua  to  pass  safely  up  to  Sian- 
yang.  The  life  of  so  great  a  hero  as  Changchun  was, 
however,  a  heavy  price  to  pay  for  the  temporary  relief  of 
Sianyang,  which  was  more  closely  besieged  than  ever  after 
the  arrival  of  Kublai  in  person. 

After  this  affair  the  Mongols  pushed  the  siege  with  greater 
vigor,  and  instead  of  concentrating  their  efforts  on  Sianyang 
they  attacked  both  that  fortress  and  Fanching  from  all  sides. 
The  Mongol  commander,  Alihaya,  sent  to  Persia,  where  the 
Mongols  were  also  supreme,  for  engineers  trained  in  the 
working  of  mangonels  or  catapults,  engines  capable  of  throw- 
ing stones  of  160-pounds'  weight  with  precision  for  a  consid- 
erable distance.  By  their  aid  the  bridges  across  the  river 
were  first  destroyed,  and  then  the  walls  of  Sianyang  were 
so  severely  damaged  that  an  assault  appeared  to  be  feasible. 
But  Fanching  had  suffered  still  more  from  the  Mongol  bom- 
bardment, and  Alihaya  therefore  attacked  it  first.  The  gar- 
rison offered  a  determined  resistance,  and  the  fighting  was 
continued  in  the  streets.     Not  a  man  of  the  garrison  escaped, 


118  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

and  when  the  slaughter  was  over  the  Mongols  found  that 
they  had  only  acquired  possession  of  a  mass  of  ruins.  But 
they  had  obtained  the  key  to  Sianyang,  the  weakest  flank 
of  which  had  been  protected  by  Fanching,  and  the  Chinese 
garrison  was  so  discouraged  that  Liuwen  Hoan,  despairing 
of  relief,  agreed  to  accept  the  terms  offered  by  Kublai.  Those 
terms  were  expressed  in  the  following  noble  letter  from  the 
Mongol  emperor:  "The  generous  defense  you  have  made 
during  five  years  covers  you  with  glory.  It  is  the  duty  of 
every  faithful  subject  to  serve  his  prince  at  the  expense  of 
his  life,  but  in  the  straits  to  which  you  are  reduced,  your 
strength  exhausted,  deprived  of  succor  and  without  hope  of 
receiving  any,  would  it  be  reasonable  to  sacrifice  the  lives 
of  so  many  brave  men  out  of  sheer  obstinacy?  Submit  in 
good  faith  to  us  and  no  harm  shall  come  to  you.  We  prom- 
ise you  still  more;  and  that  is  to  provide  each  and  all  of  you 
with  honorable  employment.  You  shall  have  no  grounds 
of  discontent,  for  that  we  pledge  you  our  imperial  word." 
It  will  not  excite  surprise  that  Liuwen  Hoan,  who  had 
been,  practically  speaking,  deserted  by  his  own  sovereign, 
should  have  accepted  the  magnanimous  terms  of  his  con- 
queror, and  become  as  loyal  a  lieutenant  of  Kublai  as  he  had 
shown  himself  to  be  of  the.  Sung  Toutsong.  The  death  of 
that  ruler  followed  soon  afterward,  but  as  the  real  power 
had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Minister  Kiassetao,  no  change 
took  place  in  the  policy  or  fortunes  of  the  Sung  kingdom. 
At  this  moment  Kublai  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  services 
of  Bayan,  a  Mongol  general  who  had  acquired  a  great  repu- 
tation under  Khulagu  in  Persia.  Bayan,  whose  name  sig- 
nifies the  noble  or  the  brave,  and  who  was  popularly  known 
as  Bayan  of  the  Hundred  Eyes,  because  he  was  supposed  to 
see  everything,  was  one  of  the  greatest  military  leaders  of 
his  age  and  race.  He  was  intrusted  with  the  oommand 
of  the  main  army,  and  under  him  served,  it  is  interesting 
to  state,  Liuwen  Hoan.  Several  towns  were  captured  after 
more  or  less  resistance,  and  Bayan  bore  down  with  all  nis 
force  on  the  triple  cities  of  Hankow,  Wouchang,  and  Han- 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF    CHINA.  119 

yang.  Bayan  concentrated  all  his  efforts  on  the  capture  of 
Hanyang,  while  the  Mongol  navy  under  Artchu  compelled 
the  Chinese  fleet  to  take  refuge  under  the  walls  of  "Wou- 
chang.  None  of  these  towns  offered  a  very  stubborn  resist- 
ance, and  Bayan  had  the  satisfaction  of  receiving  their  sur- 
render one  after  another.  Leaving  Alihaya  with  40,000  men 
to  guard  these  places,  Bayan  marched  with  the  rest  of  his 
forces  on  the  Sung  capital,  Lingan  or  Hangchow,  the  cele- 
brated Kincsay  of  medieval  travelers.  The  retreating  fleet 
and  army  of  the  Sungs  carried  with  them  fear  of  the  Mon- 
gols, and  the  ever-increasing  representation  of  their  extraor- 
dinary power  and  irresistible  arms.  In  this  juncture  public 
opinion  compelled  Kiassetao  to  take  the  lead,  and  he  called 
upon  all  the  subjects  of  the  Sung  to  contribute  arms  and 
money  for  the  purpose  of  national  defense.  But  his  own 
incompetence  in  directing  this  national  movement  deprived 
it  of  half  its  force  and  of  its  natural  chances  of  success. 
Bayan 's  advance  was  rapid.  Many  towns  opened  their 
gates  in  terror  or  admiration  of  his  name,  and  Liuwen  Hoan 
was  frequently  present  to  assure  them  that  Kublai  was  the 
most  generous  of  masters,  and  that  there  was  no  wiser  course 
than  to  surrender  to  his  generals. 

The  Mongol  forces  at  last  reached  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Sung  capital,  where  Kiassetao  had  succeeded  in  collect- 
ing an  army  of  130,000  men;  but  many  of  them  were  ill- 
trained,  and  the  splendor  of  the  camp  provided  a  poor 
equivalent  for  the  want  of  arms  and  discipline  among  the 
men.  Kiassetao  seems  to  have  been  ignorant  of  the  danger 
of  his  position,  for  he  sent  an  arrogant  summons  to  the  Mon- 
gols to  retire,  stating  also  that  he  would  grant  a  peace  based 
on  the  Yangtsekiang  as  a  boundary.  Bayan's  simple  reply 
to  this  notice  was,  "If  you  had  really  aimed  at  peace  you 
would  have  made  this  proposition  before  we  crossed  the 
Kiang.  Now  that  we  are  the  masters  of  it,  it  is  a  little 
too  late.  Still  if  you  sincerely  desire  it,  come  and  see  me 
in  person,  and  we  will  discuss  the  necessary  conditions." 
Very  few  of  the  Sung  lieutenants  offered  a  protracted  re- 


120  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

sistance,  and  even  the  isolated  cases  of  devotion  were  con- 
fined to  the  official  class,  who  were  more  loyal  than  the  mass 
of  the  people.  Chao  Maofa  and  his  wife  Yongchi  put  an 
end  to  their  existence  sooner  than  give  up  their  charge  at 
Chichow,  but  the  garrison  accepted  the  terms  of  the  Mon- 
gols without  compunction,  and  without  thinking  of  their 
duty.  Kiassetao  attempted  to  resist  the  Mongol  advance 
at  Kien  Kang,  the  modern  Nankin,  but  after  an  engage- 
ment on  land  and  water  the  Sungs  were  driven  back,  and 
their  fleet  only  escaped  destruction  by  retiring  precipitately 
to  the  sea.  After  this  success  Nankin  surrendered  without 
resistance,  although  its  governor  was  a  valiant  and  appar- 
ently a  capable  man.  He  committed  suicide  sooner  than 
surrender,  and  among  his  papers  was  found  a  plan  of  cam- 
paign, after  perusing  which  Bayan  exclaimed,  "Is  it  possible 
that  the  Sungs  possessed  a  man  capable  of  giving  such  pru- 
dent counsel?  If  they  had  paid  heed  to  it,  should  we  ever 
have  reached  this  spot?"  After  this  success  Bayan  pressed 
on  with  increased  rather  than  diminished  energy,  and  the 
Sung  emperor  and  his  court  fled  from  the  capital.  Kublai 
showed  an  inclination  to  temporize  and  to  negotiate,  but 
Bayan  would  not  brook  any  delay.  "To  relax  your  grip 
even  for  a  moment  on  an  enemy  whom  you  have  held  by 
the  throat  for  a  hundred  years  would  only  be  to  give  him 
time  to  recover  his  breath,  to  restore  his  forces,  and  in  the 
end  to  cause  us  an  infinity  of  trouble." 

The  Sung  fortunes  showed  some  slight  symptoms  of  im- 
proving when  Kiassetao  was  disgraced,  and  a  more  com- 
petent general  was  found  in  the  person  of  Chang  Chikia. 
But  the  Mongols  never  abated  the  vigor  of  their  attack  or 
relaxed  in  their  efforts  to  cut  off  all  possibility  of  succor  from 
the  Sung  capital.  "When  Chang  Chikia  hoped  to  improve 
the  position  of  his  side  by  resuming  the  offensive  he  was 
destined  to  rude  disappointment.  Making  an  attack  on  the 
strong  position  of  the  Mongols  at  Nankin  he  was  repulsed 
with  heavy  loss.  The  Sung  fleet  was  almost  annihilated 
and  700  war- junks  were  taken  by  the  victors.     After  this 


THE   MONGOL    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  121 

the  Chinese  never  dared  to  face  the  Mongols  again  on  the 
water.  This  victory  was  due  to  the  courage  and  capacity 
of  Artchu.  Bay  an  now  returned  from  a  campaign  in  Mon- 
golia to  resume  the  chief  conduct  of  the  war,  and  he  signal- 
ized his  return  by  the  captue  of  Changchow.  At  this  town 
he  is  said  to  have  sanctioned  a  massacre  of  the  Chinese 
troops,  but  the  facts  are  enwrapped  in  uncertainty;  and 
Marco  Polo  declares  that  this  was  only  done  after  the  Chi- 
nese had  treacherously  cut  up  the  Mongol  garrison.  Alarmed 
by  the  fall  of  Changchow,  the  Sung  ministers  again  sued  for 
peace,  sending  an  imploring  letter  to  this  effect:  "Our  ruler 
is  young  and  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  the  differences 
that  have  arisen  between  the  peoples.  Kiassetao  the  guilty 
one  has  been  punished ;  give  us  peace  and  we  shall  be  better 
friends  in  the  future."  Bay  an 's  reply  was  severe  and  un- 
compromising. "The  age  of  your  prince  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  question  between  us.  The  war  must  go  on  to  its 
legitimate  end.  Further  argument  is  useless."  The  de- 
fenses of  the  Sung  capital  were  by  this  time  removed,  and 
the  unfortunate  upholders  of  that  dynasty  had  no  option  save 
to  come  to  terms  with  the  Mongols.  Marco  Polo  describee 
Kincsay  as  the  most  opulent  city  of  the  world,  but  it  was  in 
no  position  to  stand  a  siege.  The  empress-regent,  acting  for 
her  son,  sent  in  her  submission  to  Bayan,  and  agreed  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  court  of  the  conqueror.  She  abdicated  for  her- 
self and  family  all  the  pretensions  of  their  rank,  and  she 
accepted  the  favors  of  the  Mongol  with  due  humility,  saying, 
"The  Son  of  Heaven  (thus  giving  Kublai  the  correct  im- 
perial style)  grants  you  the  favor  of  sparing  your  life;  it  is 
just  to  thank  him  for  it  and  to  pay  him  homage."  Bayan 
made  a  triumphal  entry  into  the  city,  while  the  Emperor 
Kongtsong  was  sent  off  to  Pekin.  The  majority  of  the 
Sung  courtiers  and  soldiers  came  to  terms  with  Bayan,  but 
a  few  of  the  more  desperate  or  faithful  endeavored  to  uphold 
the  Sung  cause  in  Southern  China  under  the  general,  Chang 
Chikia.  Two  of  the  Sung  princes  were  supported  by  this 
commander,  and  one  was  proclaimed  by  the  empty  title  of 

6 


122  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

emperor.  Capricious  fortune  rallied  to  their  side  for  a  brief 
space,  and  some  of  the  Mongol  detachments  which  had  ad- 
vanced too  far  or  with  undue  precipitancy  were  cut  up  and 
destroyed. 

The  Mongols  seem  to  have  thought  that  the  war  was 
over,  and  the  success  of  Chang  Chikia's  efforts  may  have  been 
due  to  their  negligence  rather  than  to  his  vigor.  As  soon  as 
they  realized  that  there  remained  a  flickering  flame  of  oppo- 
sition among  the  supporters  of  the  Sungs  they  sent  two 
armies,  one  into  Kwantung  and  the  other  into  Fuhkien,  and 
their  fleet  against  Chang  Chikia.  Desperate  as  was  his  posi- 
tion, that  officer  still  exclaimed,  "If  heaven  has  not  resolved 
to  overthrow  the  Sungs,  do  you  think  that  even  now  it  can- 
not restore  their  ruined  throne?"  but  his  hopes  were  dashed 
to  the  ground  by  the  capture  of  Canton,  and  the  expulsion 
of  all  his  forces  from  the  mainland.  One  puppet  emperor 
died,  and  then  Chang  proclaimed  another  as  Tiping.  The 
last  supporters  of  the  cause  took  refuge  on  the  island  of  Tai 
in  the  Canton  estuary,  where  they  hoped  to  maintain  their 
position.  The  position  was  strong  and  the  garrison  was  num- 
erous ;  but  the  Mongols  were  not  to  be  frightened  by  appear- 
ances. Their  fleet  bore  down  on  the  last  Sung  stronghold 
with  absolute  confidence,  and,  although  the  Chinese  resisted 
for  three  days  and  showed  great  gallantry,  they  were  over- 
whelmed by  the  superior  engines  as  well  as  the  numbers  of 
the  Mongols.  Chang  Chikia  with  a  few  ships  succeeded  in 
escaping  from  the  fray,  but  the  emperor's  vessel  was  less 
fortunate,  and  finding  that  escape  was  impossible,  Lousion- 
foo,  one  of  the  last  Sung  ministers,  seized  the  emperor  in  his 
arms  and  jumped  overboard  with  him.  Thus  died  Tiping, 
the  last  Chinese  emperor  of  the  Sungs,  and  with  him  expired 
that  ill-fated  dynasty.  Chang  Chikia  renewed  the  struggle 
with  aid  received  from  Tonquin,  but  when  he  was  leading 
a  forlorn  hope  against  Canton  he  was  caught  in  a  typhoon 
and  he  and  his  ships  were  wrecked.  His  invocation  to 
heaven,  "I  have  done  everything  I  could  to  sustain  on  the 
throne  the  Sung     ynasty.     "When  one  prince  died  I  caused 


KUBLAI   AND    THE   MONGOL    DYNASTY.  123 

another  to  be  proclaimed  emperor.  He  also  has  perished, 
and  I  still  live!  Oh,  heaven,  shall  I  be  acting  against  thy 
desires  if  I  sought  to  place  a  new  prince  of  this  family  on  the 
throne?"  sounded  the  dirge  of  the  race  he  had  served  so  well. 
Thus  was  the  conquest  of  China  by  the  Mongols  com- 
pleted. After  half  a  century  of  warfare  the  kingdom  of  the 
Sungs  shared  the  same  fate  as  its  old  rival  the  Kin,  and 
Kublai  had  the  personal  satisfaction  of  completing  the  work 
begun  by  his  grandfather  Genghis  seventy  years  before.  Of 
all  the  Mongol  triumphs  it  was  the  longest  in  being  attained. 
The  Chinese  of  the  north  and  of  the  south  resisted  with  ex- 
traordinary powers  of  endurance  the  whole  force  of  the 
greatest  conquering  race  Asia  had  ever  seen.  They  were 
not  skilled  in  war  and  their  generals  were  generally  incom- 
petent, but  they  held  out  with  desperate  courage  and  obsti- 
nacy long  after  other  races  would  have  given  in.  The  stu- 
dent of  history  will  not  fail  to  see  in  these  facts  striking 
testimony  of  the  extraordinary  resources  of  China,  and  of 
the  capacity  of  resistance  to  even  a  vigorous  conqueror  pos- 
sessed by  its  inert  masses.  Even  the  Mongols  did  not  con- 
quer until  they  had  obtained  the  aid  of  a  large  section  of  the 
Chinese  nation,  or  before  Kublai  had  shown  that  he  intended 
to  prove  himself  a  worthy  Emperor  of  China  and  not  merely 
a  great  Khan  of  the  Mongol  Hordes. 


CHAPTER  VI 

KUBLAI  AND  THE  MONGOL  DYNA8TY 

While  Bay  an  was  winning  victories  for  his  master  and 
driving  the  Chinese  armies  from  the  field,  Kublai  was  en- 
gaged at  Pekin  in  the  difficult  and  necessary  task  of  consoli- 
dating his  authority.  In  1271  he  gave  his  dynasty  the  name 
of  Yuen  or  Original,  and  he  took  for  himself  the  Chinese 
title  of  Chitsou,  although  it  will  never  supersede  his  Mongol 
name  of  Kublai.     Summoning  to  his  court  the  most  experi- 


124  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

enced  Chinese  ministers,  and  aided  by  many  foreigners,  he 
succeeded  in  founding  a  government  which  was  imposing  by 
reason  of  its  many-sidedness  as  well  as  its  inherent  strength. 
It  satisfied  the  Chinese  and  it  was  gratifying  to  the  Mongols, 
because  they  formed  the  buttress  of  one  of  the  most  imposing 
administrations  in  the  world.  All  this  was  the  distinct  work 
of  Kublai,  who  had  enjoyed  the  special  favor  of  Genghis, 
who  had  predicted  of  him  that  "one  day  he  will  sit  in  my 
seat  and  bring  you  good  fortune  such  as  you  have  had  in 
my  time. ' '  He  resolved  to  make  his  court  the  most  splendid 
in  the  world.  His  capital  Cambaluc  or  Khanbalig — "the 
city  of  the  Khan" — stood  on  or  near  the  present  site  of 
Pekin,  and  was  made  for  the  first  time  capital  of  China  by 
the  Mongols.  There  were,  according  to  Marco  Polo,  twelve 
gates,  at  each  of  which  was  stationed  a  guard  of  1,000  men, 
and  the  streets  were  so  straight  and  wide  that  you  could  see 
from  one  end  to  the  other,  or  from  gate  to  gate.  The  extent 
given  of  the  walls  varies :  according  to  the  highest  estimate 
they  were  twenty-seven  miles  round,  according  to  the  lowest 
eighteen.  The  khan's  palace  at  Chandu  or  Kaipingfoo, 
north  of  Pekin,  where  he  built  a  magnificent  summer  palace, 
kept  his  stud  of  horses,  and  carried  out  his  love  of  the  chase 
in  the  immense  park  and  preserves  attached,  may  be  con- 
sidered the  "Windsor  of  this  Chinese  monarch.  The  position 
of  Pekin  had,  and  still  has,  much  to  recommend  it  as  the 
site  of  a  capital.  The  Mings,  after  proclaiming  Nankin  the 
capital,  made  scarcely  less  use  of  it,  and  Chuntche,  the  first 
of  the  Manchus,  adopted  it  as  his.  It  has  since  remained 
the  sole  metropolis  of  the  empire. 

When  Kublai  permanently  established  himself  at  Pekin 
he  drew  up  consistent  lines  of  policy  on  all  the  great  ques- 
tions with  which  it  was  likely  he  would  have  to  deal,  and  he 
always  endeavored  to  act  upon  these  set  principles.  In  f ran* 
ing  this  system  of  government  he  was  greatly  assisted  by 
his  old  friend  and  tutor  Yaochu,  as  well  as  by  other  Chinese 
ministers.  He  was  thus  able  to  deal  wisely  and  also  vigor- 
ously with  a  society  with  which  he  was  only  imperfectly 


XUBLAI  AND    THE   MONGOL    DYNASTY.  126 

acquainted;  and  the  impartiality  and  insight  into  human 
character,  which  were  his  main  characteristics,  greatly  sim- 
plified the  difficult  task  before  him.  His  impartiality  was 
shown  most  clearly  in  his  attitude  on  the  question  of  relig- 
ion ;  but  it  partook  very  largely  of  a  hard  materialism  which 
concealed  itself  under  a  nominal  indifference.  At  first  he 
treated  with  equal  consideration  Buddhism,  Mohammedan- 
ism, Christianity,  and  even  Judaism,  and  he  said  that  he 
treated  them  all  with  equal  consideration  because  he  hoped 
that  the  greatest  among  them  would  help  him  in  heaven. 
If  some  doubt  may  be  felt  as  to  the  sincerity  of  this  state- 
ment, there  can  be  none  as  to  Kublai's  effort  to  turn  all 
religions  to  a  political  use,  and  to  make  them  serve  his  turn. 
Some  persons  have  thought  he  showed  a  predilection  for 
Christianity,  but  his  measures  in  support  of  Buddhism,  and 
of  his  friend  the  Pakba  Lama,  are  a  truer  indication  of  his 
feelings.  But  none  were  admitted  into  his  private  con- 
fidence, and  his  acts  evinced  a  politic  tolerance  toward 
all  creeds.  But  his  religious  tolerance  or  indifference  did 
not  extend  to  personal  matters.  He  insisted  on  the  proper 
prayers  being  offered  to  himself  and  the  extreme  reverence  of 
the  kow-tow.  Priests  were  appointed  and  specially  enjoined 
to  offer  up  prayers  on  his  behalf  before  the  people,  who  were 
required  to  attend  these  services  and  to  join  in  the  responses. 
Images  of  himself  were  also  sent  to  all  the  provincial  towns 
for  reverence  to  be  offered.  He  also  followed  the  Chinese 
custom  of  erecting  a  temple  to  his  ancestors,  and  the  coins 
that  passed  current  bore  his  effigy.  Thus  did  Kublai  more 
and  more  identify  himself  with  his  Chinese  subjects,  and  as 
he  found  his  measures  crowned  with  success  he  became  him- 
self more  wedded  to  Chinese  views,  less  tolerant  of  adverse 
opinions,  and  more  disposed  to  assert  his  sovereign  majesty. 
Having  embellished  his  capital,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find 
that  he  drew  up  a  strict  court  ceremonial,  and  that  he  pre- 
scribed gorgeous  dresses  for  those  who  were  to  be  allowed  to 
approach  him.  His  banquets  were  of  the  most  sumptuous 
description.     Strangers  from  foreign  states  were  admitted  to 


126  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

the  presence,  and  dined  at  a  table  set  apart  for  travelers, 
while  the  great  king  himself  feasted  in  the  full  gaze  of  his 
people.  His  courtiers,  guard,  and  ministers  attended  by  a 
host  of  servitors,  and  protected  from  enemies  by  20,000 
guards,  the  flower  of  the  Mongol  army ;  the  countless  wealth 
seized  in  the  capitals  of  numerous  kingdoms ;  the  brilliance 
of  intellect  among  his  chief  adherents  and  supporters;  the 
martial  character  of  the  race  that  lent  itself  almost  as  well 
to  the  pageantry  of  a  court  as  to  the  stern  reality  of  battle ; 
and  finally  the  majesty  of  the  great  king  himself — all  com- 
bined to  make  Kublai's  court  and  capital  the  most  splendid, 
at  that  time,  in  the  world.  Although  Kublai's  instincts 
were  martial,  he  gave  up  all  idea  of  accompanying  his  ar- 
mies in  the  field  after  his  war  with  Arikbuka.  As  he  was 
only  forty-four  when  he  formed  this  decision,  it  must  be 
assumed  that  he  came  to  it  mainly  because  he  had  so  many 
other  matters  to  attend  to,  and  also,  no  doubt,  because  he 
felt  that  he  possessed  in  Bayan  a  worthy  substitute. 

The  most  fortunate  and  successful  monarch  rarely  es- 
capes without  some  misfortune,  and  Kublai  was  not  destined 
to  be  an  exception  to  the  rule.  The  successes  of  the  Mongol 
navy  undoubtedly  led  Kublai  to  believe  that  his  arms  might 
be  carried  beyond  the  sea,  and  he  formed  the  definite  plan 
of  subjecting  Japan  to  his  power.  The  ruling  family  in  that 
kingdom  was  of  Chinese  descent,  tracing  back  its  origin  to 
Taipe,  a  fugitive  Chinese  prince  of  the  twelfth  century  before 
our  era.  The  Chinese  in  their  usual  way  had  asserted  the 
superior  position  of  a  Suzerain,  and  the  Japanese  had  as 
consistently  refused  to  recognize  the  claim,  and  had  main- 
tained their  independence.  As  a  rule  the  Japanese  abstained 
from  all  interference  in  the  affairs  of  the  continent,  and  the 
only  occasion  on  which  they  departed  from  this  rule  was 
when  they  aided  Corea  against  China.  In  1266  Kublai  sent 
two  embassadors  by  way  of  Corea  to  Japan  with  a  letter 
from  himself  complaining  that  the  Japanese  court  had  taken 
no  notice  of  his  accession  to  power,  and  treated  him  with 
indifference.    The  mission  never  had  a  chance  of  success,  for 


KUBLAI   AND    THE   MONGOL    DYNASTY.  127 

the  Coreans  succeeded  in  frightening  the  Mongol  envoys 
with  the  terrors  of  the  sea,  and  by  withholding  their  assist- 
ance prevented  them  reaching  their  destination.  The  envoys 
returned  without  having  been  able  to  deliver  their  letter. 
Kublai  decided  that  the  Japanese  were  hostile  to  him,  and 
he  resolved  to  humble  them.  He  called  upon  the  King  of 
Corea  to  raise  an  auxiliary  force,  and  that  prince  promised 
to  supply  1,000  ships  and  10,000  men.  In  1274  he  sent  a 
small  force  of  300  ships  and  15,000  men  to  begin  operations 
in  the  direction  of  Japan;  but  the  Japanese  navy  came  out 
to  meet  it,  and  attacking  it  off  the  island  of  Tsiusima,  in- 
flicted a  crushing  defeat.  As  this  expedition  was  largely 
composed  of  the  Corean  contingent  Kublai  easily  persuaded 
himself  that  this  defeat  did  not  indicate  what  would  happen 
when  he  employed  his  own  Mongol  troops.  He  also  suc- 
ceeded in  sending  several  envoys  to  Japan  after  his  first 
abortive  attempt,  and  they  brought  back  consistent  reports 
as  to  the  hostility  and  defiance  of  the  Japanese,  who  at  last, 
to  leave  no  further  doubt  on  the  subject,  executed  his  envoy 
in  1 280.  For  this  outrage  the  haughty  monarch  swore  he 
would  exact  a  terrible  revenge,  and  in  1280-81,  when  the  last 
of  his  campaigns  with  the  Sungs  had  been  brought  to  a  tri- 
umphant conclusion,  he  collected  all  his  forces  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  kingdom,  and  prepared  to  attack  Japan  with  all 
his  power. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  war  he  raised  an  army  of  over 
100,000  men,  of  whom  about  one-third  were  Mongols;  and 
a  fleet  large  enough  to  carry  this  host  and  its  supplies  was 
gathered  together  with  great  difficulty  in  the  harbors  of 
Chekiang  and  Fuhkien.  It  would  have  been  wiser  if  the 
expedition  had  started  from  Corea,  as  the  sea  voyage  would 
have  been  greatly  reduced;  but  the  difficulty  of  getting  his 
army  to  that  country,  and  the  greater  difficulty  of  feeding  it 
when  it  got  there,  induced  him  to  make  his  own  maritime 
possessions  the  base  of  his  operations.  From  the  beginning 
misfortunes  fell  thick  upon  it,  and  the  Japanese,  not  less 
than  the  English  when  assailed  by  the  Spanish  armada  and 


128  .4    SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

Boulogne  invasions,  owed  much  to  the  alliance  of  the  sea. 
Kublai  had  felt  bound  to  appoint  a  Chinese  generalissimo  as 
well  as  a  Mongol  to  this  host,  but  it  did  not  work  well.  One 
general  fell  ill  and  was  superseded,  another  was  lost  in  a 
storm,  and  there  was  a  general  want  of  harmony  in  the 
Mongol  camp  and  fleet.  Still  the  fleet  set  sail,  but  the  ele- 
ments declared  themselves  against  Kublai.  His  shattered 
fleet  was  compelled  to  take  refuge  off  the  islets  to  the  north 
of  Japan,  where  it  attempted  to  refit,  but  the  Japanese 
granted  no  respite,  and  assailed  them  both  by  land  and  sea. 
After  protracted  but  unequal  fighting  the  Mongol  commander 
had  no  choice  left  but  to  surrender.  The  conquerors  spared 
the  Chinese  and  Coreans  among  their  prisoners,  but  they 
put  every  Mongol  to  the  sword.  Only  a  stray  junk  or  two 
escaped  to  tell  Kublai  the  tale  of  the  greatest  defeat  the 
Mongols  had  ever  experienced.  Thirty  thousand  of  their 
best  troops  were  slaughtered,  and  their  newly-created  fleet, 
on  which  they  were  founding  such  great  expectations,  was 
annihilated,  while  70,000  Chinese  and  Coreans  remained  as 
prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  victor.  Kublai  executed  two 
of  his  generals  who  escaped,  but  it  is  clear  no  one  was  to 
blame.  The  Mongols  were  vanquished  because  they  under- 
took a  task  beyond  their  power,  and  one  with  which  their 
military  experience  did  not  fit  them  to  cope.  The  most  for- 
midable portion  of  their  army  was  cavalry,  and  they  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  sea.  Nor  could  their  Chinese  auxiliaries 
supply  this  deficiency;  for,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  the 
Chinese,  although  many  of  them  are  good  fishermen  and 
sailors,  have  never  been  a  powerful  nation  at  sea.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Japanese  have  always  been  a  bold  and  cap- 
able race  of  mariners.  They  have  frequently  proved  that 
the  sea  is  their  natural  element,  and  all  the  power  and  re- 
sources of  Kublai  availed  not  against  the  skill  and  courage 
of  these  hardy  islanders.  Kublai  was  reluctant  to  acquiesce 
in  his  defeat,  and  he  endeavored  to  form  another  expedition, 
but  the  Chinese  sailors  mutinied  and  refused  to  embark. 
They  were  supported  by  all  the  Chinese  ministers  at  Pekin. 


KUBLAI  AND    THE   MONGOL   DYNASTY.  129 

and  Kublai  felt  himself  compelled  to  yield  and  abandon  all 
designs  of  conquest  beyond  the  sea. 

The  old  success  of  the  Mongols  did  not  desert  them  on 
land,  and  Kublai  received  some  consolation  for  his  rude 
repulse  by  the  Japanese  in  the  triumph  of  his  arms  in 
Burmah.  The  momentary  submission  of  the  King  of  Bur- 
mah,  or  Mien,  as  it  was,  and  is  still,  called  by  the  Chinese, 
had  been  followed  by  a  fit  of  truculence  and  open  hostility. 
This  monarch  had  crossed  over  into  Indian  territory,  and 
had  assumed  the  title  of  King  of  Bengala  in  addition  to  his 
own.  Emboldened  by  his  success,  he  did  not  conceal  his 
hostility  to  the  Mongols,  sent  a  defiant  reply  to  all  their  rep- 
resentations, and  even  assumed  the  offensive  with  his  frontier 
garrisons.  He  then  declared  open  war.  The  Mongol  gen- 
eral, Nasiuddin,  collected  all  the  forces  he  could,  and  when 
the  Burmese  ruler  crossed  the  frontier  at  the  head  of  an 
immense  host  of  horse,  foot,  and  elephants,  he  found  the 
Mongol  army  drawn  up  on  the  plain  of  Yungchang.  The 
Mongols  numbered  only  12,000  select  troops,  whereas  the 
Burmese  exceeded  80,000  men  with  a  corps  of  elephants, 
estimated  between  800  and  2,000,  and  an  artillery  force  of 
sixteen  guns.  Notwithstanding  this  numerical  disadvantage 
the  Mongols  were  in  no  way  dismayed  by  their  opponents' 
manifest  superiority;  but  seldom  has  the  struggle  between 
disciplined  and  brute  force  proved  closer  or  more  keenly  con- 
tested. At  first  the  charge  of  the  Burmese  cavalry,  aided 
by  the  elephants  and  artillery,  carried  all  before  it.  But 
Nasiuddin  had  provided  for  this  contingency.  He  had  dis- 
mounted all  his  cavalry,  and  had  ordered  them  to  fire  their 
arrows  exclusively  against  the  elephant  corps;  and  as  the 
Mongols  were  then  not  only  the  best  archers  in  the  world, 
but  used  the  strongest  bows,  the  destruction  they  wrought 
was  considerable,  and  soon  threw  the  elephants  into  hopeless 
confusion.  The  crowd  of  elephants  turned  tail  before  this 
discharge  of  arrows,  as  did  the  elephants  of  Pyrrhus,  and 
threw  the  whole  Burmese  army  into  confusion.  The  Mon- 
gols then  mounting  their  horses,  charged  and  completed  the 


130  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

discomfiture  of  the  Burmese,  who  were  driven  from  the  field 
with  heavy  loss  and  tarnished  reputation.  On  this  occasion 
the  Mongols  did  not  pursue  the  Burmese  very  far,  and  the 
King  of  Burmah  lost  little  or  no  part  of  his  dominions,  .but 
Kasiuddin  reported  to  Pekin  that  it  would  be  an  easy  matter 
to  add  the  kingdom  of  Mien  to  the  Mongol  empire.  Kublai 
did  not  act  on  this  advice  until  six  years  later,  when  he  sent 
his  kinsman  Singtur  with  a  large  force  to  subdue  Burmah. 
The  king  took  shelter  in  Pegu,  leaving  his  capital  A  mien 
at  the  mercy  of  the  conqueror.  The  Mongol  conquests  were 
thus  brought  down  to  the  very  border  of  Assam.  In  Ton- 
quin  and  Annam  the  arms  of  Kublai  were  not  so  successful. 
Kublai's  son  Togan  made  an  abortive  campaign  in  these 
regions.  "Whenever  an  open  force  had  to  be  overcome,  the 
Mongol  army  was  successful,  but  when  the  Mongols  encoun- 
tered the  difficulties  of  a  damp  and  inclement  climate,  of  the 
absence  of  roads,  and  other  disadvantages,  they  were  dis- 
heartened, and  suffered  heavily  in  men  and  morale.  With 
the  loss  of  his  two  generals,  and  the  main  portion  of  his 
army,  Togan  was  lucky  in  himself  escaping  to  China.  Kublai 
wished  to  make  another  effort  to  subdue  these  inhospitable 
regions  and  their  savage  inhabitants,  but  Chinese  public 
opinion  proved  too  strong,  and  he  had  to  yield  to  the  rep- 
resentations of  his  ministers. 

Kublai  was  the  more  compelled  to  sacrifice  his  feelings 
on  this  point,  because  there  were  not  wanting  indications 
that  if  he  did  not  do  so  he  would  find  a  Chinese  rebellion 
on  his  hands.  Notwithstanding  his  many  successes,  and 
his  evident  desire  to  stand  well  with  his  Chinese  subjects, 
it  was  already  clear  that  they  bore  their  new  leader  little 
love.  Several  of  the  principal  provinces  were  in  a  state  of 
veiled  rebellion,  showing  that  the  first  opportunity  would 
be  taken  to  shake  off  the  Mongol  yoke,  and  that  Kublai** 
authority  really  rested  on  a  quicksand.  The  predictions  of 
a  fanatic  were  sufficient  to  shake  the  emperor  on  his  throne, 
and  such  was  Kublai's  apprehension  that  he  banished  all 
the  remaining  Sung  prisoners  to  Mongolia,  and  executed 


KUBLAI   AND    THE   MONGOL    DYNASTY.  131 

their  last  faithful  minister,  who  went  to  the  scaffold  with  a 
smile  on  his  face,  exclaiming,  "I  am  content;  my  wishes 
are  about  to  be  realized."  It  must  not  be  supposed  from 
this  that  Kublai's  authority  had  vanished  or  become  effete. 
It  was  absolutely  supreme  over  all  declared  enemies,  but  be- 
low the  surface  was  seething  an  amount  of  popular  hostil- 
ity and  discontent  ominous  to  the  longevity  of  the  Mongol 
dynasty.  The  restless  ambition  of  Kublai  would  not  be 
satisfied  with  anything  short  of  recognition,  in  some  form 
or  other,  of  his  power  by  his  neighbors,  and  he  consequently 
sent  envoys  to  all  the  kingdoms  of  Southern  Asia  to  obtain, 
by  lavish  presents  or  persuasive  language,  that  recognition 
of  his  authority  on  which  he  had  set  his  heart.  In  most 
cases  he  was  gratified,  for  there  was  not  a  power  in  East- 
ern Asia  to  compare  with  that  of  the  Mongol  prince  seated 
on  the  Dragon  Throne  of  China,  and  all  were  flattered  to  be 
brought  into  connection  with  it  on  any  terms. 

These  successful  and  gratifying  embassies  had  only  one 
untoward  result :  they  induced  Kublai  to  revert  to  his  idea 
of  repairing  the  overthrow  of  his  son  Togan  in  Annam,  and 
of  finally  subjugating  that  troublesome  country.  The  inten- 
tion was  not  wise,  and  it  was  rendered  more  imprudent  by 
its  execution  being  intrusted  to  Togan  again.  Another  com- 
mander might  have  fared  better,  but  great  as  was  his  initial 
success,  he  could  not  hope  to  permanently  succeed.  Togan 
began  as  he  formerly  commenced  by  carrying  all  before 
him.  He  won  seventeen  separate  engagements,  but  the 
further  he  advanced  into  the  country  the  more  evident  did 
it  appear  that  he  only  controlled  the  ground  on  which  he 
stood.  The  King  of  Annam  was  a  fugitive ;  his  capital  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  Mongols,  and  apparently  nothing  more 
remained  to  be  done.  Apachi,  the  most  experienced  of  the 
Mongol  commanders,  then  counseled  a  prompt  retreat. 
Unfortunately  the  Mongol  prince  Togan  would  not  take 
his  advice,  and  the  Annamites,  gathering  fresh  forces  on 
all  sides,  attacked  the  exhausted  Mongols,  and  compelled 
them  to  beat  a  precipitate  retreat  from  their  country.     All 


l$2,  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

the  fruits  of  early  victory  were  lost,  and  Togan's  disgrace 
was  a  poor  consolation  for  the  culminating  discomfiture  of 
Kublai's  reign.  The  people  of  Annam  then  made  good  their 
independence,  and  they  still  enjoy  it,  so  far  as  China  is  con- 
cerned; though  Annam  is  now  a  dependency  of  the  French 
republic. 

We  cannot  doubt  that  the  failure  of  the  emperor's  en- 
deavor to  popularize  his  rule  was  as  largely  due  to  the 
tyrannical  acts  and  oppressive  measures  of  some  of  his 
principal  ministers  as  to  unpopular  and  unsuccessful  expe- 
ditions. Notwithstanding  the  popular  dislike  of  the  system, 
and  Kublai's  efforts  to  put  it  down,  the  Mongols  resorted  to 
the  old  plan  of  farming  the  revenue,  and  the  extortion  of 
those  who  purchased  the  right  drove  the  Chinese  to  the 
verge  of  rebellion,  and  made  the  whole  Mongol  regime 
hateful.  Several  tax  farmers  were  removed  from  their 
posts,  and  punished  with  death,  but  their  successors  car- 
ried on  the  same  system.  The  declining  years  of  Kublai's 
reign  were  therefore  marred  by  the  growing  discontent  of 
his  Chinese  subjects,  and  by  his  inability  or  unwillingness 
to  put  down  official  extortion  and  mismanagement.  But 
he  had  to  cope  with  a  still  greater  danger  in  the  hostility 
of  some  members  of  his  own  family.  The  rivalry  between 
himself  and  his  brother  Arikbuka  formed  one  incident  of 
his  earlier  career,  the  hostility  of  his  cousin  Kaidu  proved  a 
more  serious  peril  when  Kublai  was  stricken  in  years,  and 
approaching  the  end  of  his  long  reign. 

Kaidu  was  one  of  the  sons  of  Ogotai,  and  consequently 
first  cousin  to  Kublai.  He  held  some  high  post  in  Mongolia, 
and  he  represented  a  reactionary  party  among  the  Mongols, 
who  wished  the  administration  to  be  less  Chinese,  and  who, 
perhaps,  sighed  for  more  worlds  to  conquer.  But  he  hated 
Kublai,  and  was  jealous  of  his  pre-eminence,  which  was, 
perhaps,  the  only  cause  of  his  revolt.  The  hostility  of 
Kaidu  might  have  remained  a  personal  grievance  if  he 
had  not  obtained  the  alliance  of  Nayan,  a  Mongol  general 
of  experience  and  ability,  who  had  long  been  jealous  of  the 


KUBLAI   AND    THE   MONGOL    DYNASTY.  133 

superior  reputation  of  Bayan.  He  was  long  engaged  in 
raising  an  army,  with  which  he  might  hope  to  make  a  bid 
for  empire,  but  at  last  his  preparations  reached  the  ear  of 
Kublai,  who  determined  to  crush  him  before  his  power  had 
grown  too  great.  Kublai  marched  against  him  at  the  head 
of  100,000  men,  and  all  the  troops  Nay  an  could  bring  into 
the  field  were  40,000,  while  Kaidu,  although  hastily  gather- 
ing his  forces,  was  too  far  off  to  render  any  timely  aid. 
Kublai  commanded  in  person,  and  arranged  his  order  of 
battle  from  a  tower  supported  on  the  backs  of  four  elephants 
chained  together.  Both  armies  showed  great  heroism  and 
ferocity,  but  numbers  carried  the  day,  and  Nayan's  army 
was  almost  destroyed,  while  he  himself  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  victor.  It  was  contrary  to  the  practice  of  the  Mon- 
gols to  shed  the  blood  of  their  own  princes,  so  Kublai  or- 
dered Nayan  to  be  sewn  up  in  a  sack,  and  then  beaten  to 
death.  The  war  with  Kaidu  dragged  on  for  many  years, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Kublai  did  not  desire  to  push 
matters  to  an  extremity  with  his  cousin.  Having  restored 
the  fortunes  of  the  war  by  assuming  the  command  in  per- 
son, Kublai  returned  in  a  short  time  to  Pekin,  leaving  his 
opponent,  as  he  hoped,  the  proverbial  golden  bridge  by 
which  to  retreat.  But  his  lieutenant,  Bayan,  to  whom 
he  intrusted  the  conduct  of  the  campaign,  favored  more 
vigorous  action,  and  was  anxious  to  bring  the  struggle  to 
a  speedy  and  decisive  termination.  He  had  gained  one  re- 
markable victory  under  considerable  disadvantage,  when 
Kublai,  either  listening  to  his  detractors  or  desirous  of  re- 
straining his  activity,  dismissed  him  from  his  mHitary  posts 
and,  summoning  him  to  Pekin,  gave  him  the  uncongenial 
office  of  a  minister  of  State.  This  happened  in  1293,  and  in 
the  following  year  Kublai,  who  was  nearly  eighty,  and  who 
had  occupied  the  throne  of  China  for  thirty-five  years,  sick- 
ened and  died,  leaving  behind  him  a  great  reputation  which 
has  survived  the  criticism  of  six  centuries  in  both  Europe 
and  China. 

Kublai's  long  reign  marked  the  climax  of  the  Mongol 


134  .4    SHORT    HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

triumph  which  he  had  all  the  personal  satisfaction  of  ex- 
tending to  China.  Where  Genghis  failed,  or  attained  only 
partial  success,  he  succeeded  to  the  fullest  extent,  thus  veri- 
fying the  prophecy  of  his  grandfather.  But  although  he 
conquered  their  country,  he  never  vanquished  the  preju- 
dices of  the  Chinese,  and  the  Mongols,  unlike  the  Manchus, 
failed  completely  to  propitiate  the  good  will  of  the  histori- 
ographers of  the  Hanlin.  Of  Kublai  they  take  some  recog- 
nition, as  an  enlightened  and  well-meaning  prince,  but  for 
all  the  other  emperors  of  the  Yuen  line  they  have  nothing 
good  to  say.  Even  Kublai  himself  could  not  assure  the  sta- 
bility of  his  throne,  and  when  he  died  it  was  at  once  clear 
that  the  Mongols  could  not  long  retain  the  supreme  position 
in  China. 

But.  Kublai's  authority  was  sufficiently  established  for  it 
to  be  transmitted,  without  popular  disturbance  or  any  insur- 
rection on  the  part  of  the  Chinese,  to  his  legal  heir,  who  was 
his  grandson.  Such  risk  as  presented  itself  to  the  succession 
arose  from  the  dissensions  among  the  Mongol  princes  them- 
selves, but  the  prompt  measures  of  Bayan  arrested  any 
trouble,  and  Prince  Timour  was  proclaimed  emperor  under 
the  Chinese  style  of  Chingtsong.  A  few  months  after  this 
signal  service  to  the  ruling  family,  Bayan  died,  leaving 
behind  him  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  capa- 
ble of  all  the  Mongol  commanders.  Whether  because  he 
could  find  no  general  worthy  to  fill  Bayan's  place,  or  be- 
cause his  temperament  was  naturally  pacific,  Timour  car- 
ried on  no  military  operations,  and  the  thirteen  years  of  his 
reign  were  marked  by  almost  unbroken  peace.  But  peace 
did  not  bring  prosperity  in  its  train,  for  a  considerable  part 
of  China  suffered  from  the  ravages  of  famine,  and  the  crav- 
ings of  hunger  drove  many  to  become  brigands.  Timour's 
anxiety  to  alleviate  the  public  suffering  gained  him  some 
small  measure  of  popularity,  and  he  also  endeavored  to  limit 
the  opportunities  of  the  Mongol  governors  to  be  tyrannical 
by  taking  away  from  them  the  power  of  life  and  death. 
Timour  was  compelled  by  the  sustained  hostility  of  Kaidu 


KUBLAI  AND    THE   MONGOL    DYNASTY.  135 

to  continue  the  struggle  with  that  prince,  but  he  confined 
himself  to  the  defensive,  and  the  death  of  Kaidu,  in  1301, 
deprived  the  contest  of  its  extreme  bitterness  although  it 
still  continued. 

Timour  was,  however,  unfortunate  in  the  one  foreign 
enterprise  which  he  undertook.  The  ease  with  which  Bur- 
mah  had  been  vanquished  and  reduced  to  a  tributary  state 
emboldened  some  of  his  officers  on  the  southern  frontier  to 
attempt  the  conquest  of  Papesifu — a  state  which  may  be 
identified  with  the  modern  Laos.  The  enterprise,  com- 
menced in  a  thoughtless  and  light-hearted  manner,  re- 
vealed unexpected  peril  and  proved  disastrous.  A  large 
part  of  the  Mongol  army  perished  from  the  heat,  and  the 
survivors  were  only  rescued  from  their  perilous  position, 
surrounded  by  the  numerous  enemies  they  had  irritated, 
by  a  supreme  effort  on  the  part  of  Koko,  the  viceroy  of 
Yunnan,  who  was  also  Timour's  uncle.  The  insurrection- 
ary movement  was  not  confined  to  the  outlying  districts 
of  Annam  and  Burmah,  but  extended  within  the  Chinese 
border,  and  several  years  elapsed  before  tranquillity  was 
restored  to  the  frontier  provinces. 

Timour  died  in  1306  without  leaving  a  direct  legitimate 
heir,  and  his  two  nephews  Haichan  and  Aiyuli  Palipata 
were  held  to  possess  an  equal  claim  to  the  throne.  Haichan 
was  absent  in  Mongolia  when  his  uncle  died,  and  a  faction 
put  forward  the  pretensions  of  Honanta,  prince  of  Gansi, 
who  seems  to  have  been  Timour's  natural  son,  but  Aiyuli 
Palipata,  acting  with  great  energy,  arrested  the  pretender 
and  proclaimed  Haichan  as  emperor.  Haichan  reigned  five 
years,  during  which  the  chief  reputation  he  gained  was  as 
a  glutton.  When  he  died,  in  1311,  his  brother  Palipata  was 
proclaimed  emperor,  although  Haichan  left  two  sons.  Pali- 
pata's  reign  of  nine  years  was  peaceful  and  uneventful,  and 
his  son  Chutepala  succeeded  him.  Chutepala  was  a  young 
and  inexperienced  prince  who  owed  such  authority  as  he 
enjoyed  to  the  courage  of  Baiju,  a  brave  soldier,  who  was 
specially  distinguished  as  the  lineal  descendant  of  the  great 


136  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

general,  Muhula.  The  plots  and  intrigues  which  compassed 
the  ruin  of  the  Yuen  dynasty  began  during  this  reign,  and 
both  Chutepala  and  Baiju  were  murdered  by  conspirators. 
The  next  emperor,  Yesun  Timour,  was  fortunate  in  a  peace- 
ful reign,  but  on  his  death,  in  1328,  the  troubles  of  the  dy- 
nasty accumulated,  and  its  end  came  clearly  into  view.  In 
little  more  than  a  year,  three  emperors  were  proclaimed  and 
died.  Tou  Timour,  one  of  the  sons  of  Haichan,  who  ruled 
before  Palipata,  was  so  far  fortunate  in  reigning  for  a  longer 
period,  but  the  most  interesting  episode  in  his  barren  reign 
was  the  visit  of  the  Grand  Lama  of  Tibet  to  Pekin,  where 
he  was  received  with  exceptional  honor;  but  when  Tou 
Timour  attempted  to  compel  his  courtiers  to  pay  the  rep- 
resentative of  Buddhism  special  obeisance  he  encountered 
the  opposition  of  both  Chinese  and  Mongols. 

After  Tou  Timour's  death  the  imperial  title  passed  to 
Tohan  Timour,  who  is  best  known  by  his  Chinese  title  of 
Chunti.  He  found  a  champion  in  Bayan,  a  descendant 
of  the  general  of  that  name,  who  successfully  defended  the 
palace  against  the  attack  of  a  band  of  conspirators.  In  1337 
the  first  distinct  rebellion  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  took 
place  in  the  neighborhood  of  Canton,  and  an  order  for  the 
disarmament  of  the  Chinese  population  aggravated  the  situa- 
tion because  it  could  not  be  effectually  carried  out.  Bayan, 
after  his  defense  of  the  palace,  became  the  most  powerful 
personage  in  the  state,  and  to  his  arrogance  was  largely  due 
the  aggravation  of  the  Mongol  difficulties  and  the  imbittering 
of  Chinese  opinion.  He  murdered  an  empress,  tyrannized 
over  the  Chinese,  and  outshone  the  emperor  in  his  apparel 
and  equipages,  as  if  he  were  a  "Wolsey  or  a  Buckingham. 
For  the  last  offense  Chunti  could  not  forgive  him,  and  Bayan 
was  deposed  and  disgraced.  While  these  dissensions  were 
in  progress  at  Pekin  the  Chinese  were  growing  more  daring 
and  confident  in  their  efforts  to  liberate  themselves  from  the 
foreign  yoke.  They  had  adopted  red  bonnets  as  the  mark 
of  their  patriotic  league,  and  on  the  sea  the  piratical  confed- 
eracy of  Fangkue  Chin  vanquished  and  destroyed  such  navy 


KUBLAI  AND    THE    MONGOL   DYNASTY.  137 

as  the  Mongols  ever  possessed.  But  in  open  and  regular 
fighting  on  land  the  supremacy  of  the  Mongols  was  still 
incontestable,  and  a  minister,  named  Toto,  restored  the  sink- 
ing fortunes  of  Chunti  until  he  fell  the  victim  of  a  court 
intrigue — being  poisoned  by  a  rival  named  Hamar.  With 
Toto  disappeared  the  last  possible  champion  of  the  Mongols, 
and  the  only  thing  needed  to  insure  their  overthrow  was  the 
advent  of  a  capable  leader  who  could  give  coherence  to  the 
national  cause,  and  such  a  leader  was  not  long  in  making  his 
appearance. 

The  deliverer  of  the  Chinese  from  the  Mongols  was  an 
individual  named  Choo  Yuen  Chang,  who,  being  left  an 
orphan,  entered  a  monastery  as  the  easiest  way  of  gaining 
a  livelihood.  In  the  year  1345,  when  Chunti  had  been  on 
the  throne  twelve  years,  Choo  quitted  his  retreat  and  joined 
one  of  the  bands  of  Chinese  who  had  thrown  off  the  authority 
of  the  Mongols.  His  physique  and  fine  presence  soon  gained 
for  him  a  place  of  authority,  and  when  the  chief  of  the  band 
died  he  was  chosen  unanimously  as  his  successor.  He  at 
once  showed  himself  superior  to  the  other  popular  leaders 
by  his  humanity,  and  by  his  wise  efforts  to  convince  the 
Chinese  people  that  he  had  only  their  interests  at  heart. 
Other  Chinese  so-called  patriots  thought  mainly  of  plunder, 
and  they  were  not  less  terrible  to  peaceful  citizens  than  the 
most  exacting  Mongol  commander  or  governor.  But  Choo 
strictly  forbade  plundering,  and  any  of  his  band  caught  rob- 
bing or  ill-using  the  people  met  with  prompt  and  summary 
punishment.  By  this  conduct  he  gained  the  confidence  of 
the  Chinese,  and  his  standard  among  all  the  national  leaders 
became  the  most  popular  and  attracted  the  largest  number 
of  recruits.  In  1356  he  captured  the  city  of  Nankin,  which 
thereupon  became  the  base  of  his  operations,  as  it  was  subse- 
quently the  capital  of  his  dynasty.  He  then  issued  a  proc- 
lamation declaring  that  his  sole  object  was  to  expel  the 
foreigners  and  to  restore  the  national  form  of  government. 
J*»  this  document  he  said,  "It  is  the  birthright  of  the  Chinese 
*i    govern  foreign  peoples  and  not  of  these  latter  to  rule  in 


138  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

China.  It  used  to  be  said  that  the  Yuen  or  Mongols,  who 
came  from  the  regions  of  the  north,  conquered  our  empire 
not  so  much  by  their  courage  and  skill  as  by  the  aid  of 
Heaven.  And  now  it  is  sufficiently  plain  that  Heaven  itself 
wishes  to  deprive  them  of  that  empire,  as  some  punishment 
for  their  crimes,  and  for  not  having  acted  according  to  the 
teaching  of  their  forefathers.  The  time  has  now  come  to 
drive  these  foreigners  out  of  China."  "While  the  Mongols 
were  assailed  in  every  province  of  the  empire  by  insurgents, 
Choo  headed  what  was  the  only  organized  movement  for 
their  expulsion,  and  his  alliance  with  the  pirate,  Fangkue 
Chin,  added  the  command  of  the  sea  to  the  control  he  had 
himself  acquired  over  some  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  pop- 
ulous provinces  of  Central  China.  The  disunion  among  the 
Mongols  contributed  to  their  overthrow  as  much  as  the  valor 
of  the  Chinese.  The  Emperor  Chunti  had  quite  given  him- 
self up  to  pleasure,  and  his  debaucheries  were  the  scandal  of 
the  day.  The  two  principal  generals,  Chahan  Timour  and 
Polo  Timour,  hated  each  other,  and  refused  to  co-operate. 
Another  general,  Alouhiya,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  in 
Mongolia,  and,  while  he  declared  that  his  object  was  to 
regenerate  his  race,  he,  undoubtedly,  aggravated  the  em- 
barrassment of  Chunti. 

In  1366,  Choo,  having  carefully  made  all  the  necessary 
preparations  for  war  on  a  large  scale,  dispatched  from  Nankin 
two  large  armies  to  conquer  the  provinces  north  of  the 
Yangtsekiang,  which  were  all  that  remained  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Mongols.  A  third  army  was  intrusted  with  the 
task  of  subjecting  the  provinces  dependent  on  Canton,  and 
this  task  was  accomplished  with  rapidity  and  without  a 
check.  Such  Mongol  garrisons  as  were  stationed  in  this 
quarter  were  annihilated.  The  main  Chinese  army  of  250, 
000  men  was  intrusted  to  the  command  of  Suta,  Choo's 
principal  lieutenant  and  best  general,  and  advanced  direct 
upon  Pekin.  In  1367  Suta  had  overcome  all  resistance  south 
of  the  Hoangho,  which  river  he  crossed  in  the  autumn  of 
that   year.     The    Mongols   appeared    demoralized,  and  at- 


THE   MING    DYNASTY.  139 

tempted  little  or  no  resistance.  Chunti  fled  from  Pekin 
to  Mongolia,  where  he  died  in  1370,  and  Suta  carried  the 
capital  by  storm  from  the  small  Mongol  garrison  which 
remained  to  defend  it.  Choo  hastened  to  Pekin  to  receive 
the  congratulations  of  his  army,  and  to  prove  to  the  whole 
Chinese  nation  that  the  Yuen  dynasty  had  ceased  to  rule. 
The  resistance  offered  by  the  Mongols  proved  surprisingly 
slight,  and,  considering  the  value  of  the  prize  for  which  they 
were  fighting,  quite  unworthy  of  their  ancient  renown.  The 
real  cause  of  their  overthrow  was  that  the  Mongols  never 
succeeded  in  propitiating  the  good  opinion  and  moral  support 
of  the  Chinese,  who  regarded  them  to  the  end  as  barbarians, 
and  it  must  also  be  admitted  that  the  main  force  of  the  Mon- 
gols had  drifted  to  Western  Asia,  where  the  great  Timour 
revived  some  of  the  traditions  of  Genghis.  At  the  end  of 
his  career  that  mighty  conqueror  prepared  to  invade  China, 
but  he  died  shortly  after  he  had  begun  a  march  that  boded 
ill  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  China.  Thus,  with  the  flight 
of  Chunti,  the  Mongol  or  Yuen  dynasty  came  to  an  end,  and 
the  Mongols  only  reappear  in  Chinese  history  as  the  humble 
allies  of  the  Manchus,  when  they  undertook  the  conquest  of 
China  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    MING    DYNASTY 

Having  expelled  the  Mongols,  Choo  assumed  the  style  of 
Hongwou,  and  he  gave  his  dynasty  the  name  of  Ming,  which 
signifies  "bright."  He  then  rewarded  his  generals  and  offi- 
cers with  titles  and  pecuniary  grants,  and  in  1369,  the  first 
year  of  his  reign  after  the  capture  of  Pekin,  he  erected  a 
temple  or  hall  in  that  city  in  honor  of  the  generals  who  had 
been  slain,  while  vacant  places  were  left  for  the  statues  of 
those  generals  who  still  held  command.  But  while  he  re- 
warded his  army,  Hongwou  very  carefully  avoided  giving 


140  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHIN^i. 

his  government  a  military  character,  knowing  that  the 
Chinese  resent  the  superiority  of  military  officials,  and  he 
devoted  his  main  efforts  to  placing  the  civil  administration 
on  its  old  and  national  basis.  In  this  he  received  the  cordial 
support  of  the  Chinese  themselves,  who  had  been  kept  in  the 
background  by  their  late  conquerors,  whose  administration 
was  essentially  military.  Hongwou  also  patronized  litera- 
ture, and  endowed  the  celebrated  Hanlin  College,  which  wag 
neglected  after  the  death  of  Kublai.  He  at  once  provided  a 
literary  task  of  great  magnitude  in  the  history  of  the  Yuen 
dynasty,  which  was  intrusted  to  a  commission  of  eighteen 
writers.  But  a  still  greater  literary  work  was  accomplished 
in  the  codified  Book  of  Laws,  which  is  known  as  the  Pandects 
of  Yunglo,  and  which  not  merely  simplified  the  administra- 
tion of  the  law,  but  also  gave  the  people  some  idea  of  the 
laws  under  which  they  lived.  He  also  passed  a  great  meas- 
ure of  gratuitous  national  education,  and,  in  order  to  carry 
out  this  reform  in  a  thoroughly  successful  manner,  he  ap- 
pointed all  the  masters  himself.  He  also  founded  many 
public  libraries,  and  he  wished  to  establish  one  in  every 
town,  but  this  was  beyond  the  extent  of  his  power.  Not 
content  with  providing  for  the  minds  of  his  subjects,  Hong- 
wou did  his  utmost  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  aged.  He  cut 
down  the  court  expenses  and  issued  sumptuary  laws,  so  that 
he  might  devote  the  sums  thus  economized  to  the  support  of 
the  aged  and  sick.  His  last  instructions  to  the  new  officials, 
on  proceeding  to  their  posts,  were  to  "take  particular  care 
of  the  aged  and  the  orphan."  Thus  did  he  show  that  the 
Chinese  had  found  in  him  a  ruler  who  would  revive  the 
ancient  glories  of  the  kingdom. 

The  frugality  and  modesty  of  his  court  have  already  been 
referred  to.  The  later  Mongols  were  fond  of  a  lavish  dis- 
play, and  expended  large  sums  on  banquets  and  amusements. 
At  Pekin  one  of  their  emperors  had  erected  in"  the  grounds 
of  the  palace  a  lofty  tower  of  porcelain,  at  enormous  expense, 
and  had  arranged  an  ingenious  contrivance  at  its  base  for 
denoting  the  time.     Two  statues  sounded  a  bell  and  struck 


THE   MING    DYNASTY.  141 

a  drum  at  every  hour.  "When  Hongwou  saw  this  edifice,  he 
exclaimed,  "How  is  it  possible  for  men  to  neglect  the  most 
important  affairs  of  life  for  the  sole  object  of  devoting  their 
attention  to  useless  buildings?  If  the  Mongols  in  place  of 
amusing  themselves  with  these  trifles  had  applied  their 
energies  to  the  task  of  contenting  the  people,  would  they  not 
have  preserved  the  scepter  in  their  family?"  He  then  or- 
dered that  this  building  should  be  razed  to  the  ground.  Nor 
did  this  action  stand  alone.  He  reduced  the  size  of  the 
harem  maintained  by  all  the  Chinese  as  well  as  the  Mongol 
rulers,  and  he  instituted  a  rigid  economy  in  all  matters  of 
state  ceremonial.  Changtu,  the  Xanadu  of  Coleridge,  the 
famous  summer  palace  of  Kublai,  had  been  destroyed  during 
the  campaigns  with  the  Mongols,  and  Hongwou  systemati- 
cally discouraged  any  attempt  to  embellish  the  northern  cap- 
ital, Pekin,  which,  under  the  Kin  and  Yuen  dynasties,  had 
become  identified  with  foreign  rulers.  Pekin,  during  the 
whole  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  was  only  a  second-rate  city,  and 
all  the  attention  of  the  Ming  rulers  was  given  to  the  embel- 
lishment of  Nankin,  the  truly  national  capital  of  China. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Mongols  beyond  the  Great  "Wall  and 
the  death  of  Chunti,  the  last  of  the  Yuen  emperors,  by  no 
means  ended  the  struggle  between  the  Chinese  and  their  late 
northern  conquerors.  The  whole  of  the  reign  of  Hongwou 
was  taken  up  with  a  war  for  the  supremacy  of  his  authority 
and  the  security  of  his  frontiers,  in  which  he,  indeed,  took 
little  personal  part,  but  which  was  carried  on  under  his 
directions  by  his  great  generals,  Suta  and  Fuyuta.  The 
former  of  these  generals  was  engaged  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  from  1368  to  1385,  in  constant  war  with  the  Mongols. 
His  first  campaign,  fought  when  the  Chinese  were  in  the 
full  flush  of  success,  resulted  in  the  brilliant  and  almost 
bloodless  conquest  of  the  province  of  Shansi.  The  neighbor 
ing  province  of  Shensi,  which  is  separated  from  the  other  by 
the  river  Hoangho,  was  at  the  time  held  by  a  semi-inde- 
pendent Mongol  governor  named  Lissechi,  who  believed  that 
he  could  hold  his  ground  against  the  Mings.     The  principal 


142  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

fact  upon  which  this  hope  was  based  was  the  breadth  and 
assumed  impassability  of  that  river.  Lissechi  believed  that 
this  natural  advantage  would  enable  him  to  hold  out  indefi- 
nitely against  the  superior  numbers  of  the  Chinese  armies. 
But  his  hope  was  vain  if  not  unreasonable.  The  Chinese 
crossed  the  Hoangho  on  a  bridge  of  junks,  and  Tsinyuen, 
which  Lissechi  had  made  his  capital,  surrendered  without  a 
blow.  Lessechi  abandoned  one  fortress  after  another  on  the 
approach  of  Suta.  Expelled  from  Shensi  he  hoped  to  find 
shelter  and  safety  in  the  adjoining  province  of  Kansuh, 
where  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Lintao.  For  a  moment 
the  advance  of  the  Chinese  army  was  arrested  while  a  great 
council  of  war  was  held  to  decide  the  further  course  of  the 
campaign.  The  majority  of  the  council  favored  the  sugges- 
tion that  did  not  involve  immediate  action,  and  wished  Suta 
to  abandon  the  pursuit  of  Lissechi  and  complete  the  conquest 
of  Shensi,  where  several  fortresses  still  held  out.  But  Suta 
was  of  a  more  resolute  temper,  and  resolved  to  ignore  the 
decision  of  the  council  and  to  pursue  Lissechi  to  Lintao. 
The  vigor  of  Suta's  decision  was  matched  by  the  rapidity  of 
his  march.  Before  Lissechi  had  made  any  arrangements 
to  stand  a  siege  he  found  himself  surrounded  at  Lintao  by 
the  Ming  army.  In  this  plight  he  was  obliged  to  throw  him- 
self on  the  mercy  of  the  victor,  who  sent  him  to  the  capital, 
where  Hongwou  granted  him  his  life  and  a  small  pension. 

The  overthrow  of  Lissechi  prepared  the  way  for  the  more 
formidable  enterprise  against  Ninghia,  where  the  Mongols 
had  drawn  their  remaining  power  to  a  head.  Ninghia,  the 
old  capital  of  Tangut,  is  situated  in  the  north  of  Kansuh,  on 
the  western  bank  of  the  Hoangho,  and  the  Great  Wall  passes 
through  it.  Strongly  fortified  and  admirably  placed,  the 
Mongols,  so  long  as  they  possessed  this  town  with  its  gates 
through  the  Great  Wall,  might  hope  to  recover  what  they 
had  lost,  and  to  make  a  fresh  bid  for  power  in  Northern 
China.  North  and  west  of  Ninghia  stretched  the  desert, 
but  while  it  continued  in  their  possession  the  Mongols  re- 
mained on  the  threshold  of  China  and  held  open  a  door 


THE  MING    DYNASTY.  143 

through  which  their  kinsmen  from  the  Amour  and  Central 
Asia  might  yet  re-enter  to  revive  the  feats  of  Genghis  and, 
Bayan.  Suta  determined  to  gain  this  place  as  speedily  as 
possible.  Midway  between  Lintao  and  Ninghia  is  the  fortified 
town  of  Kingyang,  which  was  held  by  a  strong  Mongol  garri- 
son. Suta  laid  close  siege  to  this  town,  the  governor  of  which 
had  only  time  to  send  off  a  pressing  appeal  for  aid  to  Kuku 
Timour,  the  governor  at  Ninghia,  before  he  was  shut  in  on 
all  sides  by  the  Ming  army.  Kuku  Timour  apparently  did 
his  best  to  aid  his  compatriot,  but  his  forces  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  oppose  those  of  Suta  in  the  open  field,  and  Kingyang 
was  at  last  reduced  to  such  straits  that  the  garrison  is  said  to 
have  been  compelled  to  use  the  slain  as  food.  At  last  the 
place  made  an  unconditional  surrender,  and  the  commandant 
was  executed,  not  on  account  of  his  stubborn  defense,  but 
because  at  the  beginning  of  the  siege  he  had  said  he  would 
surrender  and  had  not  kept  his  word.  After  the  fall  of 
Kingyang  the  Chinese  troops  were  granted  a  well-earned 
rest,  and  Suta  visited  Nankin  to  describe  the  campaign  to 
Hongwou. 

The  departure  of  Suta  emboldened  Kuku  Timour  so  far 
as  to  lead  him  to  take  the  field,  and  he  hastened  to  attack 
the  town  of  Lanchefoo,  the  capital  of  Kansuh,  where  there 
was  only  a  small  garrison.  Notwithstanding  this  the  place 
offered  a  stout  resistance,  but  the  Mongols  gained  a  decisive 
success  over  a  body  of  troops  sent  to  its  relief.  This  force 
was  annihilated  and  its  general  taken  prisoner.  The  Mon- 
gols thought  to  terrify  the  garrison  by  parading  this  general, 
whose  name  should  be  preserved,  Yukwang,  before  the  walls, 
but  he  baffled  their  purpose  by  shouting  out,  "Be  of  good 
courage,  Suta  is  coming  to  your  rescue."  Yukwang  was 
cut  to  pieces,  but  his  timely  and  courageous  exclamation, 
like  that  of  D'Assas,  saved  his  countrymen.  Soon  after  this 
incident  Suta  reached  the  scene  of  action,  and  on  his  ap- 
proach Kuku  Timour  broke  up  his  camp  and  retired  to 
Ninghia.  The  Chinese  commander  then  hastened  to  occupy 
the  towns  of  Souchow  and  Kia-yu-kwan,  important  as  being 


144  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

the  southern  extremity  of  the  Great  "Wall,  and  as  isolating 
•Ninghia  on  the  west.  Their  loss  was  so  serious  that  the 
Mongol  chief  felt  compelled  to  risk  a  general  engagement. 
The  battle  was  keenly  contested,  and  at  one  moment  it 
seemed  as  if  success  was  going  to  declare  itself  in  favor  of 
the  Mongols.  But  Suta  had  sent  a  large  part  of  his  force 
to  attack  the  Mongol  rear,  and  when  this  movement  was 
completely  executed,  he  assailed  the  Mongol  position  at  the 
head  of  all  his  troops.  The  struggle  soon  became  a  mas- 
sacre, and  it  is  said  that  as  many  as  80,000  Mongols  were 
slain,  while  Kuku  Timour,  thinking  Ninghia  no  longer  safe, 
fled  northward  to  the  Amour.  The  success  of  Suta  was 
heightened  and  rendered  complete  by  the"  capture  of  a  large 
number  of  the  ex-Mongol  ruling  family  by  Ly  "Wenchong, 
another  of  the  principal  generals  of  Hongwou.  Among  the 
prisoners  was  the  eldest  grandson  of  Chunti,  and  several  of 
the  ministers  advised  that  he  should  be  put  to  death.  But 
Hongwou  instead  conferred  on  him  a  minor  title  of  nobility, 
and  expressed  his  policy  in  a  speech  equally  creditable  to  his 
wisdom  as  a  statesman  and  his  heart  as  a  man : 

"The  last  ruler  of  the  Yuens  took  heed  only  of  his  pleas- 
ures. The  great,  profiting  by  his  indolence,  thought  of  noth- 
ing save  of  how  to  enrich  themselves;  the  public  treasures 
being  exhausted  by  their  malpractices,  it  needed  only  a  few 
years  of  dearth  to  reduce  the  people  to  distress,  and  the  ex- 
cessive tyranny  of  those  who  governed  them  led  to  the  form- 
ing of  parties  which  disturbed  the  empire  even  to  its  founda- 
tions. Touched  by  the  misfortunes  with  which  I  saw  them 
oppressed,  I  took  up  arms,  not  so  much  against  the  Yuens 
as  against  the  rebels  who  were  engaged  in  war  with  them. 
It  was  over  the  same  foe  that  I  gained  my  first  successes. 
And  if  the  Yuen  prince  had  not  departed  from  the  rules  of 
wise  government  in  order  to  give  himself  up  to  his  pleasures, 
and  had  the  magnates  of  his  court  performed  their  duty, 
would  all  honorable  men  have  taken  up  arms  as  they  did  and 
declared  against  him?  The  misconduct  of  the  race  brought 
me  a  large  number  of  partisans  who  were  convinced  of  the 


THE   MING    DYNASTY.  145 

rectitude  of  my  intentions,  and  it  was  from  their  hands  and 
not  from  those  of  the  Yuens  that  I  received  the  empire.  If 
Heaven  had  not  favored  me  should  I  have  succeeded  in  de- 
stroying with  such  ease  those  who  withdrew  into  the  desert 
of  Shamo?  We  read  in  the  Chiking  that  after  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Chang  family  there  remained  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand of  their  descendants  who  submitted  themselves  to  the 
Chow,  because  it  was  the  will  of  Heaven.  Cannot  men 
respect  its  decrees?  Let  them  put  in  the  public  treasure- 
house  all  the  spoil  brought  back  from  Tartary,  so  that  it  may 
serve  to  alleviate  the  people's  wants.  And  with  regard  to 
Maitilipala  (Chunti's  grandson),  although  former  ages  supply 
examples  of  similar  sacrifice,  did  "Wou  "Wang,  I  ask  you, 
when  exterminating  the  Chang  family,  resort  to  this  barbar- 
ous policy?  The  Yuen  princes  were  the  masters  of  this  em- 
pire for  nearly  one  hundred  years,  and  my  forefathers  were 
their  subjects,  and  even  although  it  were  the  constant  prac- 
tice to  treat  in  this  fashion  the  princes  of  a  dynasty  which 
has  ceased  to  reign,  yet  could  I  not  induce  myself  to 
adopt  it." 

These  noble  sentiments,  to  which  there  is  nothing  contra- 
dictory in  the  whole  life  of  Hongwou,  would  alone  place  his 
reign  high  among  the  most  civilizing  and  humanly  interest- 
ing epochs  in  Chinese  history.  To  his  people  he  appeared  as 
a  real  benefactor  as  well  as  a  just  prince.  He  was  ever 
studious  of  their  interests,  knowing  that  their  happiness  de- 
pended on  what  might  seem  trivial  matters,  as  well  as  in 
showy  feats  of  arms  and  high  policy.  He  simplified  the 
transit  of  salt,  that  essential  article  of  life,  to  provinces 
where  its  production  was  scanty,  and  when  dearth  fell  on 
the  land  he  devoted  all  the  resources  of  his  treasury  to  its 
mitigation.  His  thoughtfulness  for  his  soldiers  was  shown 
by  sending  fur  coats  to  all  the  soldiers  in  garrison  at  Ninghia 
where  the  winter  was  exceptionally  severe.  A  final  instance 
of  his  justice  and  consideration  may  be  cited  in  his  ordering 
certain  Mongol  colonies  established  in  Southern  China,  to 
whom  the  climate  proved  uncongenial,  to  be  sent  back  at  his 


146  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF  CHINA 

expense  to  their  northern  homes,  when  his  ministers  exhorted 
him  to  proceed  to  extremities  against  them  and  to  root  them 
out  by  fire  and  sword. 

The  pacification  of  the  northern  borders  was  followed  by 
the  dispatch  of  troops  into  the  southern  provinces  of  Szchuen 
and  Yunnan,  where  officials  appointed  by  the  Mongols  still 
exercised  authority.  One  of  these  had  incurred  the  wrath 
of  Hongwou  by  assuming  a  royal  style  and  proclaiming  him- 
self King  of  Hia.  He  was  soon  convinced  of  the  folly  of 
taking  a  title  which  he  had  not  the  power  to  maintain,  and 
the  conquest  of  Szchuen  was  so  easily  effected  that  it  would 
not  call  for  mention  if  it  were  not  rendered  interesting  as 
providing  Hongwou's  other  great  general  Fuyuta  with  the 
first  opportunity  of  displaying  his  skill  as  a  commander. 
The  self -created  King  of  Hia  presented  himself  laden  with 
chains  at  the  Chinese  camp  and  begged  the  favor  of  his  life. 
The  conquest  of  Szchuen  was  little  more  than  completed 
when  the  attention  of  Hongwou  was  again  directed  to  the 
northwest  frontier,  where  Kuku  Timour  was  making  one 
more  effort  to  recover  the  footing  he  had  lost  on  the  fringe 
of  the  Celestial  Empire,  and  for  a  time  fortune  favored  his 
enterprise.  Even  when  Suta  arrived  upon  the  scene  and 
took  the  command  of  the  Chinese  forces  in  person,  the  Mon- 
gols more  than  held  their  own.  Twice  did  Suta  attack  the 
strong  position  taken  up  by  the  Mongol  chief  in  the  desert, 
and  twice  was  his  assault  repulsed  with  heavy  loss.  A  de- 
tachment under  one  of  his  lieutenants  was  surprised  in  the 
desert  and  annihilated.  Supplies  were  difficult  to  obtain, 
and  discouraged  by  defeat  and  the  scarcity  of  food  the  Chi- 
nese army  was  placed  in  an  extremely  dangerous  position. 
Out  of  this  dilemma  it  was  rescued  by  the  heroic  Fuyuta, 
who,  on  the  news  of  the  Mongol  recrudescence,  had  marched 
northward  at  the  head  of  the  army  with  which  he  had  con- 
quered Szchuen.  He  advanced  boldly  into  the  desert,  oper- 
ated on  the  flank  and  in  the  rear  of  Kuku  Timour,  vanquished 
the  Mongols  in  many  engagements,  and  so  monopolized  their 
attention  that  Suta  was  able  to  retire  in  safety  and  without 


THE   MING    DYNASTY.  147 

loss.  The  war  terminated  with  the  Chinese  maintaining  all 
their  posts  on  the  frontier,  and  the  retreat  of  the  Mongols, 
who  had  suffered  too  heavy  a  loss  to  feel  elated  at  their 
repulse  of  Suta.  At  the  same  time  no  solid  peace  had  been 
obtained,  and  the  Mongols  continued  to  harass  the  borders, 
and  to  exact  blackmail  from  all  who  traversed  the  desert. 
When  Hongwou  endeavored  to  attain  a  settlement  by  a 
stroke  of  policy  his  efforts  were  not  more  successful.  His 
kind  reception  of  the  Mongol  Prince  Maitilipala  has  been 
referred  to,  and  about  the  year  1374  he  sent  him  back  to 
Mongolia,  in  the  hope  that  he  would  prove  a  friendly  neigh- 
bor on  his  father's  death.  The  gratitude  of  Maitilipala 
seems  to  have  been  unaffected;  but,  although  he  was  the 
legitimate  heir,  the  Mongols  refused  to  recognize  him  as 
Khan  on  the  death  of  his  father.  Gradually  tranquillity 
settled  down  on  those  borders.  The  Chinese  officials  were 
content  to  leave  the  Mongols  alone,  and  the  Mongols  aban- 
doned their  customary  raids  into  Chinese  territory.  The 
death  of  Kuku  Timour  was  followed  by  the  abandonment 
of  all  ideas  of  reviving  Mongol  authority  in  China.  Not 
long  after  that  event  died  the  great  general,  Suta,  of  whom 
the  national  historians  give  the  following  glowing  description 
which  merits  preservation:  "Suta  spoke  little  and  was  en- 
dowed with  great  penetration.  He  was  always  on  good 
terms  with  the  generals  acting  with  him,  sharing  the  good 
and  bad  fortune  alike  of  his  soldiers,  of  whom  there  was  not 
one  who,  touched  by  his  kindness,  would  not  have  done  his 
duty  to  the  death.  He  was  not  less  pronounced  in  his  mod- 
esty. He  had  conquered  a  capital,  three  provinces,  several 
hundred  towns,  and  on  the  very  day  of  his  return  to  court 
from  these  triumphs  he  went  without  show  and  without 
Tetinue  to  his  own  house,  received  there  some  learned  pro- 
fessors and  discussed  various  subjects  with  them.  Through- 
out his  life  he  was  in  the  presence  of  the  emperor  respectful, 
and  so  reserved  that  one  might  have  doubted  his  capacity  to 
speak."  Hongwou  was  in  the  habit  of  speaking  thus  in  his 
praise:    "My  orders   received,   he  forthwith    departed;  his 


148  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

task  accomplished,  he  returned  without  pride  and  without 
boasting.  He  loves  not  women,  he  does  not  amass  wealth. 
A  man  of  strict  integrity,  without  the  slightest  stain,  as  pure 
and  clear  as  the  sun  and  moon,  there  is  none  like  my  first 
general  Suta." 

Hongwou  had  the  satisfaction  of  restoring  amicable  rela- 
tions with  the  King  of  Corea,  a  state  in  which  the  Chinese 
have  always  taken  naturally  enough  a  great  interest  from 
its  proximity,  as  well  as  from  an  apprehension  that  the  Jap- 
anese might  make  use  of  it  as  a  vantage  ground  for  the 
invasion  of  the  continent.  The  King  of  Corea  sent  a  formal 
embassy  to  Nankin,  and  when  he  died  his  son  asked  for  and 
received  investiture  in  his  authority  with  the  royal  yellow 
robes  at  the  hands  of  the  Ming  ruler.  During  this  period  it 
will  be  convenient  here  to  note  that  the  ruling  power  in 
Corea  passed  from  the  old  royal  family  to  the  minister  Li 
Chungwei,  who  was  the  ancestor  of  the  present  king.  The 
last  military  episode  of  the  reign  of  Hongwou  was  the  con- 
quest of  Yunnan,  which  had  been  left  over  after  the  recovery 
of  Szchuen,  in  consequence  of  the  fresh  outbreak  of  the  Mon- 
gols in  the  north.  This  task  was  intrusted  to  Fuyuta,  who 
at  the  head  of  an  army  of  100,000  men,  divided  into  two 
corps,  invaded  Yunnan.  The  prince  of  that  state  offered 
the  utmost  resistance  he  could,  but  in  the  one  great  battle 
of  the  war  his  army  fighting  bravely  was  overthrown,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  capital.  The  conquest  of 
Yunnan  completed  the  pacification  of  the  empire,  and  the 
authority  of  Hongwou  was  unchallenged  from  the  borders 
of  Burmah  to  the  Great  Wall  and  the  Corean  frontier.  The 
population  of  the  empire  thus  restored  did  not  much  exceed 
sixty  millions.  The  last  ten  years  of  the  reign  of  Hongwou 
were  passed  in  tranquillity,  marred  by  only  one  unpleasant 
incident,  the  mutiny  of  a  portion  of  his  army  under  an  ambi- 
tious general.  The  plot  was  discovered  in  good  time,  but  it 
is  said  that  the  emperor  did  not  consider  the  exigencies  of 
the  case  to  be  met  until  he  had  executed  twenty  thousand 
of  the  mutineers. 


THE    MING    DYNASTY.  149 

In  1398  Hongwou  was  attacked  with  the  illness  which 
ended  his  life.  He  was  then  in  his  seventy-first  year,  and 
had  reigned  more  than  thirty  years  since  his  proclamation 
of  the  Ming  dynasty  at  Nankin.  The  Emperor  Keen  Lung, 
in  his  history  of  the  Mings,  states  that  Hongwou  possessed 
most  of  the  virtues  and  few  of  the  vices  of  mankind.  He 
was  brave,  patient  under  suffering,  far-seeing,  studious  of 
his  people's  welfare,  and  generous  and  forbearing  toward  his 
enemies.  It  is  not  surprising  that  he  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing the  Ming  dynasty  on  a  firm  and  popular  basis,  and  that 
his  family  have  been  better  beloved  in  China  than  any  dy- 
nasty with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Hans.  In  his  will, 
which  is  a  remarkable  document,  he  recites  the  principal 
events  of  his  reign,  how  he  had  "pacified  the  empire  and 
restored  its  ancient  splendor."  With  the  view  of  providing 
for  the  stability  of  his  empire,  he  chose  as  his  successor  his 
grandson  Chuwen,  because  he  had  remarked  in  him  much 
prudence,  a  gentle  disposition,  good  intelligence,  and  a  readi- 
ness to  accept  advice.  He  also  selected  him  because  he  was 
the  eldest  son  of  his  eldest  son,  and  as  his  other  sons  might 
be  disposed  to  dispute  their  nephew's  authority  he  ordered 
them  to  remain  at  their  posts,  and  not  to  come  to  the  capital 
on  his  death.  They  were  also  enjoined  to  show  the  new 
emperor  all  the  respect  and  docility  owed  by  subjects  to  their 
sovereign.  Through  these  timely  precautions  Chuwen,  who 
was  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  was  proclaimed  emperor 
without  any  opposition,  and  took  the  title  of  Kien  Wenti. 

Hongwou  had  rightly  divined  that  his  sons  might  prove 
a  thorn  in  the  side  of  his  successor,  and  his  policy  of  employ- 
ing them  in  posts  at  a  distance  from  the  capital  was  only 
half  successful  in  attaining  its  object.  If  it  kept  them  at  a 
distance  it  also  strengthened  their  feeling  of  independence, 
and  enabled  them  to  collect  their  forces  without  attracting 
much  attention.  "Wenti,  as  it  is  most  convenient  to  call  the 
new  emperor,  felt  obliged  to  send  formal  invitations  to  his 
uncles  to  attend  the  obsequies  of  their  father.  Most  of  them 
had  the  tact  to  perceive  that  the  invitation  was  dictated  by 


150  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

regard  for  decency,  and  not  by  a  wish  that  it  should  be 
accepted,  and  gave  the  simplest  excuse  for  not  attending  the 
funeral.  But  Ty,  Prince  of  Yen,  the  most  powerful  and 
ambitious  of  them  all,  declared  that  he  accepted  the  em- 
peror's invitation.  This  decision  raised  quite  a  flutter  of 
excitement,  almost  amounting  to  consternation,  at  Nankin, 
where  the  Prince  of  Yen  was  regarded  as  a  bitter  and  vin- 
dictive enemy.  The  only  way  Wenti  saw  out  of  this  dilem- 
ma was  to  send  his  uncle  a  special  intimation  that  his  pres- 
ence at  the  capital  would  not  be  desirable.  Before  he  had 
been  many  weeks  on  the  throne  "Wenti  was  thus  brought  into 
open  conflict  with  the  most  powerful  and  ambitious  of  all  his 
relatives.  He  resolved,  under  the  advice  of  his  ministers,  to 
treat  all  his  uncles  as  his  enemies,  and  he  sent  his  officers 
with  armies  at  their  back  to  depose  them,  and  bring  them  as 
prisoners  to  his  court.  Five  of  his  uncles  were  thus  sum- 
marily dealt  with,  one  committed  suicide,  and  the  other  four 
were  degraded  to  the  rank  of  the  people.  But  the  Prince 
of  Yen  was  too  formidable  to  be  tackled  in  this  fashion. 
Taking  warning  from  the  fate  of  his  brothers,  he  collected 
all  the  troops  he  could,  prepared  to  defend  his  position  against 
the  emperor,  and  issued  a  proclamation  stating  that  it  was 
lawful  for  subjects  to  revolt  for  the  purpose  of  removing  the 
pernicious  advisers  of  the  sovereign.  The  last  was,  he  an- 
nounced, the  cause  of  his  taking  up  arms,  and  he  disclaimed 
any  motive  of  ambitious  turbulence  for  raising  his  standard. 
He  said,  "I  am  endeavoring  to  avert  the  ruin  of  my  family, 
and  to  maintain  the  emperor  on  a  throne  which  is  placed  in 
jeopardy  by  the  acts  of  traitors.  My  cause  ought,  therefore, 
to  be  that  of  all  those  who  keep  the  blood  of  the  great  Hong- 
wou,  now  falsely  aspersed,  in  affectionate  remembrance." 
A  large  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  northern  provinces 
joined  his  side,  and  proclaimed  him  as  "The  Prince. "  Wenti 
had  recourse  to  arms  to  bring  his  uncle  back  to  his  allegiance, 
and  a  civil  war  began,  which  was  carried  on,  with  excep- 
tional bitterness,  during  five  years.  The  resources  of  the 
emperor,  in  men  and  money,  were  the  superior,  but  he  did 


THE   MING    DYNASTY.  151 

not  seem  able  to  turn  them  to  good  account ;  and  the  prince's 
troops  were  generally  victorious,  and  his  power  gradually 
increased.  In  the  year  1401  both  sides  concentrated  all  their 
strength  for  deciding  the  contest  by  a  single  trial  of  arms. 
The  two  armies  numbered  several  hundred  thousand  men, 
and  it  is  stated  that  the  imperial  force  alone  mustered  600,- 
000  strong.  The  battle — which  was  fought  at  Techow  in 
Shantung — considering  the  numbers  engaged,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising to  learn,  lasted  several  days,  and  its  fortune  alter- 
nated from  one  side  to  the  other.  At  last  victory  declared 
for  the  prince,  and  the  imperial  army  was  driven  in  rout 
from  the  field  with  the  loss  of  100,000  men. 

After  this  great  victory  the  further  progress  of  the  prince 
was  arrested  by  a  capable  general  named  Chinyong,  who 
succeeded  in  gaining  one  great  victory.  If  Wenti  had  known 
how  to  profit  by  this  success  he  might  have  turned  the  course 
of  the  struggle  permanently  in  his  own  favor.  But  instead 
of  profiting  by  his  good  fortune,  "Wenti,  believing  that  all 
danger  from  the  prince  was  at  an  end,  resumed  his  old 
practices,  and  reinstated  two  of  the  most  obnoxious  of  his 
ministers,  whom  he  had  disgraced  in  a  fit  of  apprehension. 
Undoubtedly  this  step  raised  against  him  a  fresh  storm 
of  unpopularity,  and  at  the  same  time  brought  many  sup- 
porters to  his  uncle,  who,  even  after  the  serious  disaster 
described,  found  himself  stronger  than  he  had  been  before. 
The  struggle  must  have  shown  little  signs  of  a  decisive  issue, 
for  in  1402  the  prince  made  a  voluntary  offer  of  peace,  with 
a  view  to  putting  an  end  to  all  strife  and  of  giving  the  em- 
pire peace ;  but  Wenti  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  forgive 
him.  The  success  of  his  generals  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
struggle  seemed  to  warrant  the  belief  that  there  was  no 
reason  in  prudence  for  coming  to  terms  with  his  rebellious 
uncle,  and  that  he  would  succeed  in  establishing  his  indispu- 
table supremacy.  The  prince  seemed  reduced  to  such  straits 
that  he  had  to  give  his  army  the  option  of  retreat.  Address- 
ing his  soldiers  he  said:  "I  know  how  to  advance,  but  not  to 
retreat";  but  his  army  decided  to  return  to  their  homes  in 


152  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

the  north,  when  the  extraordinary  and  unexpected  retreat 
of  the  greater  part  of  the  army  of  Wenti  revived  their 
courage  and  induced  them  to  follow  their  leader  through 
one  more  encounter.  Like  Frederick  the  Great,  the  Prince 
of  Yen  was  never  greater  than  in  defeat.  He  surprised  the 
lately  victorious  army  of  Wenti,  smashed  it  in  pieces,  and 
captured  Tingan,  the  emperor's  best  general.  The  occupa- 
tion of  Nankin  and  the  abdication  of  Wenti  followed  this 
victory  in  rapid  succession.  Afraid  to  trust  himself  to  the 
mercy  of  his  relative,  he  fled,  disguised  as  a  priest,  to  Yun- 
nan, where  he  passed  his  life  ignominiously  for  forty  years, 
and  his  identity  was  only  discovered  after  that  lapse  of  time 
by  his  publishing,  in  his  new  character  of  a  Buddhist  priest, 
a  poem  reciting  and  lamenting  the  misfortunes  of  Wenti. 
Then  he  was  removed  to  Pekin,  where  he  died  in  honorable 
confinement.  As  a  priest  he  seems  to  have  been  more  fort- 
unate than  as  a  ruler,  and  history  contains  no  more  striking 
example  of  happiness  being  found  in  a  private  station  when 
unattainable  on  a  throne. 

After  some  hesitation  the  Prince  of  Yen  allowed  himself 
to  be  proclaimed  emperor,  and  as  such  he  is  best  known  as 
Yonglo,  a  name  signifying  "Eternal  Joy."  Considering  his 
many  declarations  that  his  only  ambition  was  to  reform  and 
not  to  destroy  the  administration  of  his  nephew,  his  first  act 
obliterating  the  reign  of  Wenti  from  the  records  and  consti- 
tuting himself  the  immediate  successor  of  Hongwou  was  not 
calculated  to  support  his  alleged  indifference  to  power.  He 
was  scarcely  seated  on  the  throne  before  he  was  involved  in 
serious  troubles  on  both  his  northern  and  his  southern  fron- 
tiers. In  Mongolia  he  attempted  to  assert  a  formal  supremacy 
over  the  khans  through  the  person  of  an  adventurer  named 
Kulitchi,  but  the  agent  was  unable  to  fulfill  his  promises,  and 
met  with  a  speedy  overthrow.  In  Tonquin  an  ambitious 
minister  named  Likimao  deposed  his  master  and  established 
himself  as  ruler  in  his  place.  The  emperor  sent  an  army  to 
bring  him  to  his  senses,  and  it  met  with  such  rapid  success 
that  the  Chinese  were  encouraged  to  annex  Tonquin  and 


THE   MING    DYNASTY.  153 

convert  it  into  a  province  of  the  empire.  When  Yonglo's 
plans  failed  on  the  steppe  he  was  drawn  into  a  struggle  with 
the  Mongols,  which  necessitated  annual  expeditions  until  he 
died.  During  the  last  of  these  he  advanced  as  far  as  the 
Kerulon,  and  on  his  return  march  he  died  in  his  camp  at 
the  age  of  sixty-five.  Although  he  bore  arms  so  long  against 
the  head  of  the  state  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  greatly  con- 
solidated the  power  of  the  Mings,  which  he  extended  on  one 
side  to  the  Amour  and  on  the  other  to  the  Songcoi.  It  was 
during  his  reign  that  Tamerlane  contemplated  the  reconquest 
of  China,  and  perhaps  it  was  well  for  Yonglo  that  that  great 
commander  died  when  he  had  traversed  only  a  few  stages  of 
his  march  to  the  Great  Wall.  One  of  his  sons  succeeded 
Yonglo  as  emperor,  but  he  only  reigned  under  the  style  of 
Gintsong  for  a  few  months. 

Then  Suentsong,  the  son  of  Gintsong,  occupied  the  throne, 
and  during  his  reign  a  vital  question  affecting  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  civil  service,  and  through  it  the  whole  adminis- 
tration of  the  country,  was  brought  forward,  and  fortunately 
settled  without  recourse  to  blows,  as  was  at  one  time  feared 
would  be  the  case.  Before  his  reign  the  public  examinations 
had  been  open  to  candidates  from  all  parts  of  the  empire,  and 
it  had  become  noticeable  that  all  the  honors  were  being 
carried  off  by  students  from  the  southern  provinces,  -who 
were  of  quicker  intelligence  than  those  of  the  north.  It 
seemed  as  if  in  the  course  of  a  short  time  all  the  posts  would 
be  held  by  them,  and  that  the  natives  of  the  provinces  north 
of  the  Hoangho  would  be  gradually  driven  out  of  the  service. 
Naturally  this  marked  tendency  led  to  much  agitation  in  the 
north,  and  a  very  bitter  feeling  was  spreading  when  Suen- 
tsong and  his  minister  took  up  the  matter  and  proceeded  to 
apply  a  sound  practical  remedy.  After  a  commission  of 
inquiry  had  certified  to  the  reality  of  the  evil,  Suentsong 
decreed  that  all  competitors  for  literary  honors  should  be 
restricted  to  their  native  districts,  and  that  for  the  purpose 
of  the  competitive  examinations  China  should  be  divided  into 
three  separate  divisions,  one  for  the  north,  another  for  the 


154  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

center,  and  the  third  for  the  south.  The  firmness  shown  by 
the  Emperor  Suentsong  in  this  matter  was  equally  conspicu- 
ous in  his  dealings  with  an  uncle,  who  showed  some  inclina- 
tion to  revolt.  He  took  the  field  in  person,  and  before  the 
country  was  generally  aware  of  the  revolt,  Suestsong  was 
conducting  his  relative  to  a  state  prison.  The  rest  of  Suen- 
tsong's  reign  was  peaceful  and  prosperous,  and  he  left  the 
crown  to  his  son,  Yngtsong,  a  child  eight  years  old. 

During  his  minority  the  governing  authority  was  exer- 
cised by  his  grandmother,  the  Empress  Changchi,  the  mother 
of  the  Emperor  Suentsong.  At  first  it  seemed  as  if  there 
would  be  a  struggle  for  power  between  her  and  the  eunuch 
"Wangchin,  who  had  gained  the  affections  of  the  young 
emperor ;  but  after  she  had  denounced  him  before  the  court 
and  called  for  his  execution,  from  which  fate  he  was  only 
rescued  by  the  tears  and  supplications  of  the  young  sover- 
eign, the  feud  was  composed  by  Wangchin  gaining  such  an 
ascendency  over  the  empress  that  she  made  him  her  associate 
in  the  regency.  Unfortunately  Wangchin  did  not  prove  a 
wise  or  able  administrator.  He  thought  more  of  the  sweets 
of  office  than  of  the  duties  of  his  lofty  station.  He  appointed 
his  relations  and  creatures  to  the  highest  civil  and  military 
posts  without  regard  to  their  qualifications  or  ability.  To 
his  arrogance  was  directly  due  the  commencement  of  a  dis- 
astrous war  with  Yesien,  the  most  powerful  of  the  Mongol 
chiefs  of  the  day.  When  that  prince  sent  the  usual  presents 
to  the  Chinese  capital,  and  made  the  customary  request  for 
a  Chinese  princess  as  wife,  Wangchin  appropriated  the  gifts 
for  himself  and  sent  back  a  haughty  refusal  to  Yesien's  peti- 
tion, although  it  was  both  customary  and  rarely  refused. 
Such  a  reception  was  tantamount  to  a  declaration  of  war, 
and  Yesien,  who  had  already  been  tempted  by  the  apparent 
weakness  of  the  Chinese  frontier  to  resume  the  raids  which 
were  so  popular  with  the  nomadic  tribes  of  the  desert,  gath- 
ered his  fighting  men  together  and  invaded  China.  Alarmed 
by  the  storm  he  had  raised,  Wangchin  still  endeavored  to 
meet  it,  and  summoning  all  the  garrisons  in  the  north  to  his 


THE    MING    DYNASTY  155 

aid,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  computed  to 
number  half  a  million  of  men.  In  the  hope  of  inspiring  his 
force  with  confidence  he  took  the  boy-emperor,  Yngtsong, 
with  him,  but  his  own  incompetence  nullified  the  value  of 
numbers,  and  rendered  the  presence  of  the  emperor  the  cause 
of  additional  ignominy  instead  of  the  inspiration  of  invincible 
confidence.  The  vast  and  unwieldy  Chinese  army  took  up 
a  false  position  at  a  place  named  Toumon,  and  it  is  affirmed 
that  the  position  was  so  bad  that  Yesien  feared  that  it  must 
cover  a  ruse.  He  accordingly  sent  some  of  his  officers  to 
propose  an  armistice,  but  really  to  inspect  the  Chinese  lines. 
They  returned  to  say  that  there  was  no  concealment,  and 
that  if  an  attack  were  made  at  once  the  Chinese  army  lay  at 
his  me»cy.  Yesien  delayed  not  a  moment  in  delivering  his 
attack,  and  it  was  completely  successful.  The  very  numbers 
of  the  Chinese,  in  a  confined  position,  added  to  their  discom- 
fiture, and  after  a  few  hours'  fighting  the  battle  became  a 
massacre  and  a  rout.  Wangchin,  the  cause  of  all  this  ruin, 
was  killed  by  Fanchong,  the  commander  of  the  imperial 
guards,  and  the  youthful  ruler,  Yngtsong,  was  taken  pris- 
oner. There  has  rarely  been  a  more  disastrous  day  in  the 
long  annals  of  the  Chinese  empire  than  the  rout  at  Toumon. 
Then  Yesien  returned  to  his  camp  on  the  Toula,  taking 
his  prisoner  with  him,  and  announcing  that  he  would  only 
restore  him  for  a  ransom  of  100  taels  of  gold,  200  taels  of 
silver,  and  200  pieces  of  the  finest  silk.  For  some  unknown 
reason  the  Empress  Changchi  did  not  feel  disposed  to  pay 
this  comparatively  low  ransom,  and  instead  of  reclaiming 
Yngtsong  from  his  conqueror  she  placed  his  brother,  Kingti, 
on  the  throne.  The  struggle  with  the  Mongols  under  Yesien 
continued,  but  his  attention  was  distracted  from  China  by 
his  desire  to  become  the  great  Khan  of  the  Mongols,  a  title 
still  held  by  his  brother-in-law,  Thotho  Timour,  of  the  House 
of  Genghis.  Yesien,  suddenly  releasing  of  his  own  accord 
Yngtsong — who  returned  to  Pekin — hastened  to  the  Keru- 
lon  country,  where  he  overthrew  and  assassinated  Thotho 
Timour,  and  was  in  turn  himself  slain  by  another  chieftain. 


156  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

While  the  Mongol  was  thus  pursuing  his  own  ambition,  and 
reaching  the  violent  death  which  forms  so  common  a  feature 
in  the  history  of  his  family,  the  unfortunate  Yngtsong  re- 
turned to  China,  where,  on  the  refusal  of  his  brother  Kingti 
to  resign  the  throne,  he  sank  quietly  into  private  life.  Kingti 
died  seven  years  after  his  brother's  return,  and  then,  failing 
a  better  or  nearer  prince,  Yngtsong  was  brought  from  his 
confinement  and  restored  to  the  throne.  He  reigned  eight 
years  after  his  restoration,  but  he  never  possessed  any  real 
power,  his  authority  being  wielded  by  unscrupulous  minis- 
ters, who  stained  his  reign  by  the  execution  of  Yukien,  the 
most  honest  and  capable  general  of  the  period.  If  his  reign 
was  not  remarkable  for  political  or  military  vigor,  some  use- 
ful reforms  appear  to  have  been  instituted.  Among  others 
may  be  named  the  formation  of  state  farms  on  waste  or  con- 
fiscated lands,  the  establishment  of  military  schools  for  teach- 
ing archery  and  horsemanship,  and  the  completion  of  some 
useful  and  elaborate  educational  works,  of  which  a  geography 
of  China,  in  ninety  volumes,  is  the  most  famous. 

Yngtsong  died  in  the  year  1465,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son,  Hientsong,  who  began  his  reign  with  acts  of  filial 
devotion  that  attracted  the  sympathy  of  his  subjects.  He 
also  rendered  posthumous  honors  to  the  ill-used  general, 
Yukien,  and  established  his  fame  as  a  national  benefactor. 
During  the  twenty-eight  years  that  he  occupied  the  throne 
he  was  engaged  in  a  number  of  petty  wars,  none  of  which 
requires  specific  mention.  The  only  unpopular  measure  as- 
sociated with  his  name  was  the  creation  of  a  Grand  Council 
of  Eunuchs,  to  which  was  referred  all  questions  of  capital 
punishment,  and  this  body  soon  acquired  a  power  which 
made  it  resemble  the  tyrannical  and  irresponsible  British 
Star  Chamber.  After  five  years  this  institution  became  so 
unpopular  and  was  so  deeply  execrated  by  the  nation  that 
Hientsong,  however  reluctantly,  had  to  abolish  his  own 
creation,  and  acquiesce  in  the  execution  of  some  of  its  most 
active  members. 

During    Hientsong's    reign   a  systematic    attempt   was 


THE   MINO    DYNASTY.  157 

made  to  work  the  gold  mines  reputed  to  exist  in  Central 
China,  but  although  half  a  million  men  were  employed 
upon  them  it  is  stated  that  the  find  did  not  exceed  thirty- 
ounces.  More  useful  work  was  accomplished  in  the  build- 
ing of  a  canal  from  Pekin  to  the  Peiho,  which  thus  enabled 
grain  junks  to  reach  the  northern  capital  by  the  Euho  and 
Shaho  canals  from  the  Yangtsekiang.  Another  useful  pub- 
lic work  was  the  repairing  of  the  Great  Wall,  effected  along 
a  considerable  portion  of  its  extent,  by  the  efforts  of  50,000 
soldiers,  which  gave  the  Chinese  a  sense  of  increased  secu- 
rity. In  connection  with  this  measure  of  defense,  it  may 
be  stated  that  the  Chinese  advanced  into  Central  Asia  and 
occupied  the  town  of  Hami,  which  then  and  since  has 
served  them  as  a  useful  watch-tower  in  the  direction  of  the 
west.  The  death  of  Hientsong  occurred  in  1487,  at  a  mo- 
ment when  the  success  and  prosperity  of  the  country  under 
the  Mings  may  be  described  as  having  reached  its  height. 
During  the  reign  of  his  son  and  successor,  Hiaotsong, 
matters  progressed  peacefully,  for,  although  there  was  some 
fighting  for  the  possession  of  Hami,  which  was  coveted  by 
several  of  the  desert  chiefs,  but  which  remained  during  the 
whole  of  this  reign  subject  to  China,  the  empire  was  not 
involved  in  any  great  war.  An  insurrection  of  the  black 
aborigines  of  the  island  of  Hainan  was  put  down  without 
any  very  serious  difficulty.  These  events  do  not  throw  any 
very  clear  light  on  the  character  and  personality  of  Hiao- 
tsong, who  died  in  1505  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six;  but 
his  care  for  his  people,  and  his  desire  to  alleviate  the  mis- 
fortunes that  might  befall  his  subjects,  was  shown  by  his 
ordering  every  district  composed  of  ten  villages  to  send  in 
annually  to  a  State  granary,  a  specified  quantity  of  grain, 
until  100,000  bushels  had  been  stored  in  every  such  build- 
ing throughout  the  country.  The  idea  was  an  excellent  one ; 
but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  a  large  portion  of  this  grain  was 
diverted  to  the  use  of  the  peculating  officials,  whence  arose 
the  phrase,  "The  emperor  is  full  of  pity,  but  the"  Court  of 
Finance  is  like  the  never-dying  worm  which  devours   the 


158  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

richest  crops."  To  Hiaotsong  succeeded  his  son,  Woutsong, 
during  whose  reign  many  misfortunes  fell  upon  the  land. 
The  emperor's  uncles  had  designs  on  his  authority,  but  these 
fell  through  and  came  to  naught,  rather  through  Wou- 
tsong's  good  fortune  than  the  excellence  of  his  arrange- 
ments. In  Szchuen  a  peasant  war  threatened  to  assume 
the  dimensions  of  a  rebellion,  and  in  Pechihli  bands  of 
mounted  robbers,  or  Hiangmas,  raided  the  open  country. 
He  succeeded  in  suppressing  these  revolts,  but  his  indiffer- 
ence to  the  disturbed  state  of  his  realm  was  shown  by  his 
passing  most  of  his  time  in  hunting  expeditions  beyond  the 
Great  Wall.  His  successors  were  to  reap  the  result  of  this 
neglect  of  business  for  the  pursuit  of  pleasure;  and  when  he 
died  in  1519,  without  leaving  an  heir,  the  outlook  was  be- 
ginning to  look  serious  for  the  Ming  dynasty.  One  event, 
and  perhaps  the  most  important  of  Woutsong's  reign,  calls 
for  special  mention,  and  that  is  the  arrival  at  Canton  of  the 
first  native  of  Europe  to  reach  China  by  sea.  Of  course  it 
will  be  recollected  that  Marco  Polo  and  others  reached  the 
Mongol  court  by  land,  although  the  Venetian  sailed  from 
China  on  his  embassy  to  southern  India.  In  1511,  Raphael 
Perestralo  sailed  from  Malacca  to  China,  and  in  1517  the 
Portuguese  officer,  Don  Fernand  Perez  D'Andrade,  arrived 
in  the  Canton  River  with  a  squadron,  and  was  favorably  re- 
ceived by  the  mandarins.  D'Andrade  visited  Pekin,  where 
he  resided  for  some  time  as  embassador.  The  commence- 
ment of  intercourse  between  Europeans  and  China  was  thus 
effected  most  auspiciously ;  and  it  might  have  continued  so 
but  that  a  second  Portuguese  fleet  appeared  in  Chinese 
waters,  and  committed  there  numerous  outrages  and  acts 
of  piracy.  Upon  this  D'Andrade  was  arrested  by  order  of 
"Woutsong,  and  after  undergoing  imprisonment,  was  exe- 
cuted by  his  successor  in  1523.  It  was  a  bad  beginning  for 
a  connection  which,  after  nearly  four  hundred  years,  is 
neither  as  stable  nor  as  general  as  the  strivers  after  per- 
fection could  desire. 

The  death  of  Woutsong  without  children,  or  any  recog- 


THE    MING    DYNASTY.  159 

nized  heir,  threatened  to  involve  the  realm  in  serious  dan- 
gers ;  but  the  occasion  was  so  critical  that  the  memoers  of 
the  Ming  family  braced  themselves  to  it,  and  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Empress  Changchi,  the  widow  of  the  late  ruler, 
a  secret  council  was  held,  when  the  grandson  of  the  Emperor 
Hientsong,  a  youth  of  fourteen,  was  placed  on  the  throne  un- 
der the  name  of  Chitsong.  It  is  said  that  his  mother  gave 
him  good  advice  on  being  raised  from  a  private  station  to 
the  lofty  eminence  of  emperor,  and  that  she  told  him  that  he 
was  about  to  accept  a  heavy  burden ;  but  experience  showed 
that  he  was  unequal  to  it.  Still,  his  shortcomings  were 
preferable  to  a  disputed  succession.  The  earlier  years  of 
his  reign  were  marked  by  some  successes  over  the  Tartars, 
and  he  received  tribute  from  chiefs  who  had  never  paid  it 
before.  But  Chitsong  had  little  taste  for  the  serious  work 
of  administration.  He  showed  himself  superstitious  in  mat- 
ters of  religion,  and  he  cultivated  poetry,  and  may  even 
have  persuaded  himself  that  he  was  a  poet.  But  he  did 
not  pay  any  heed  to  the  advice  of  those  among  his  ministers 
who  urged  him  to  take  a  serious  view  of  his  position,  and  to 
act  in  a  manner  worthy  of  his  dignity.  It  is  clear  that  his 
influence  on  the  lot  of  his  people,  and  even  on  the  course  of 
his  country's  history,  was  small,  and  such  reigns  as  his  in- 
spire the  regret  expressed  at  there  being  no  history  of  the 
Chinese  people;  but  such  a  history  is  impossible. 

It  might  be  more  instructive  to  trace  the  growth  of 
thought  among  the  masses,  or  to  indicate  the  progress  of 
civil  and  political  freedom;  yet,  not  only  do  the  materials 
not  exist  for  such  a  task,  but  those  we  possess  all  tend  to 
show  that  there  has  been  no  growth  to  describe,  no  progress 
to  be  indicated,  during  these  comparatively  recent  centuries. 
It  is  the  peculiar  and  distinguishing  characteristic  of  Chi- 
nese history  that  the  people  and  their  institutions  have  re- 
mained practically  unchanged  and  the  same  from  a  very 
early  period.  Even  the  introduction  of  a  foreign  element 
has  not  tended  to  disturb  the  established  order  of  things. 
The  supreme  ruler  possesses  the  same  attributes  and  dis- 


160  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

charges  the  same  functions;  the  governing  classes  ar6 
chosen  in  the  same  manner;  the  people  are  bound  in  the 
same  state  of  servitude,  and  enjoy  the  same  practical  lib- 
erty; all  is  now  as  it  was.  Neither  under  the  Tangs  nor 
the  Sungs,  under  the  Yuens  nor  the  Mings,  was  there  any 
change  in  national  character  or  in  political  institutions  to  be 
noted  or  chronicled.  The  history  of  the  empire  has  always 
been  the  fortunes  of  the  dynasty,  which  has  depended,  in 
the  first  place,  on  the  passive  content  of  the  subjects,  and, 
in  the  second,  on  the  success  or  failure  of  its  external  and 
internal  wars.  This  condition  of  things  may  be  disappoint- 
ing to  those  who  pride  themselves  on  tracing  the  origin  of  a 
constitution  and  the  growth  of  civil  rights,  and  also  would 
have  a  history  of  China  a  history  of  the  Chinese  people; 
although  the  fact  is  undoubted  that  there  is  no  history  of 
the  Chinese  people  apart  from  that  of  their  country  to  be 
recorded.  The  national  institutions  and  character  were 
formed,  and  had  attained  in  all  essentials  their  present 
state,  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago,  or  before  the  de- 
struction of  all  trustworthy  materials  for  the  task  by  the 
burning  of  the  ancient  literature  and  chronicles  of  China. 
Without  them  we  must  fain  content  ourselves  with  the  his- 
tory of  the  country  and  the  empire. 

Chitsong  was  engaged  in  three  serious  operations  beyond 
his  frontier,  one  with  a  Tartar  chief  named  Yenta,  another 
with  the  Japanese,  and  the  third  in  Cochin  China.  Yenta 
was  of  Mongol  extraction,  and  enjoyed  supreme  power  on 
the  borders  of  Shansi.  His  brother  was  chief  of  the  Ordus 
tribe,  which  dwells  within  the  Chinese  frontier.  Changtu, 
the  old  residence  of  Kublai,  was  one  of  his  camps,  and  it 
was  said  that  he  could  bring  100,000  horsemen  into  the  field. 
The  success  of  his  raids  carried  alarm  through  the  province 
of  Shansi,  and  during  one  of  them  he  laid  siege  to  the  capi- 
tal, Taiyuen.  Then  the  emperor  placed  a  reward  on  his 
head  and  offered  an  official  post  to  the  person  who  would  rid 
him  of  his  enemy  by  assassination.  The  offer  failed  to  bring 
forward  either  a  murderer  or  a  patriot,  and  Yenta's  hostil- 


THE   MING    DYNASTY.  161 

ity  was  increased  by  the  personal  nature  of  this  attack,  and 
perhaps  by  the  apprehension  of  a  sinister  fate.  He  invaded 
China  on  a  larger  scale  than  ever,  and  carried  his  ravages 
to  the  southern  extremity  of  Shansi,  and  returned  laden 
with  the  spoil  of  forty  districts,  and  bearing  with  him 
200,000  prisoners  to  a  northern  captivity.  After  this  suc- 
cess Yenta  seems  to  have  rested  on  his  laurels,  although 
he  by  no  means  gave  up  his  raids,  which,  however,  assumed 
more  and  more  a  local  character.  The  Chinese  annalists 
state  that  never  was  the  frontier  more  disturbed,  and  even 
the  establishment  of  horse  fairs  for  the  benefit  of  the  Mon- 
gols failed  to  keep  them  quiet.  In  Cochin  China  the 
emperor  gained  some  gratifying  if  not  very  important 
successes,  and  asserted  his  right  as  suzerain  over  several 
disobedient  princes.  But  a  more  serious  and  less  satisfac- 
tory question  had  to  be  settled  on  the  side  of  Japan. 

The  Japanese  had  never  forgiven  the  formidable  and 
unprovoked  invasion  of  their  country  by  Kublai  Khan. 
The  Japanese  are  by  nature  a  military  nation,  and  the 
Chinese  writers  themselves  describe  them  as  "intrepid, 
inured  to  fatigue,  despising  life,  and  knowing  well  how 
to  face  death;  although  inferior  in  number  a  hundred  of 
them  would  blush  to  flee  before  a  thousand  foreigners,  and 
if  they  did  they  would  not  dare  to  return  to  their  country. 
Sentiments  such  as  these,  which  are  instilled  into  them  from 
their  earliest  childhood,  render  them  terrible  in  battle." 
Emboldened  by  their  success  over  the  formidable  Mongols 
the  Japanese  treated  the  Chinese  with  contempt,  and  fitted 
out  piratical  expeditions  from  time  to  time  with  the  object 
of  preying  on  the  commerce  and  coasting  towns  of  China. 
To  guard  against  the  descents  of  these  enterprising  islanders 
the  Chinese  had  erected  towers  of  defense  along  the  coast, 
and  had  called  out  a  militia  which  was  more  or  less  ineffi- 
cient. On  the  main  they  did  not  so  much  as  attempt  to 
make  a  stand  against  their  neighbors,  whose  war  junks 
exercised  undisputed  authority  on  the  Eastern  Sea.  While 
this  strife  continued  a  trade  also  sprang  up  between  the  two 


162  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

peoples,  who  share  in  an  equal  degree  the  commercial  in- 
stinct ;  but  as  the  Chinese  government  only  admitted  Japa- 
nese goods  when  brought  by  the  embassador,  who  was  sent 
every  ten  years  from  Japan,  this  trade  could  only  be  carried 
on  by  smuggling.  A  regular  system  was  adopted  to  secure 
the  greatest  success  and  profit.  The  Japanese  landed  their 
goods  on  some  island  off  the  coast,  whence  the  Chinese  re- 
moved them  at  a  safe  and  convenient  moment  to  the  main- 
land. The  average  value  of  the  cargo  of  one  of  the  small 
junks  which  carried  on  this  trade  is  said  to  have  been 
$20,000,  so  that  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  profits  were 
considerable.  But  the  national  antipathies  would  not  be 
repressed  by  the  profitable  character  of  this  trade,  and  the 
refusal  of  a  Chinese  merchant  to  give  a  Japanese  the  goods 
for  which  he  had  paid  lit  the  embers  of  a  war  which  went 
on  for  half  a  century,  and  which  materially  weakened  the 
Ming  power.  During  the  last  years  of  Chitsong's  long 
reign  of  forty-five  years  this  trouble  showed  signs  of  get- 
ting worse,  although  the  Japanese  confined  their  efforts  to 
irregular  and  unexpected  attacks  on  places  on  the  coast, 
and  did  not  attempt  to  wage  a  regular  war.  In  the  midst 
of  these  troubles,  and  when  it  was  hoped  that  the  exhorta- 
tion of  his  ministers  would  produce  some  effect,  Chitsong 
died,  leaving  behind  him  a  will  or  public  proclamation  to 
be  issued  after  his  death,  and  which  reads  like  a  long  con- 
fession of  fault.  Mea  culpa,  exclaimed  this  Eastern  ruler 
at  the  misfortunes  of  his  people  and  the  calamities  of  his 
realm,  but  he  could  not  propound  a  remedy  for  them. 

His  third  son  succeeded  him  as  the  Emperor  Moutsong, 
and  the  character  and  capacity  of  this  prince  gave  promise 
that  his  reign  would  be  satisfactory  if  not  glorious.  Unfort- 
unately for  his  family,  and  perhaps  for  his  country,  the 
public  expectations  were  dispelled  in  his  case  by  an  early 
death.  The  six  years  during  which  he  reigned  were  ren- 
dered remarkable  by  the  conclusion  of  a  stable  peace  with 
the  Tartar  Yenta,  who  accepted  the  title  of  a  Prince  of  the 
Empire.     Moutsong  when  he  found  that  he  was  dying  grew 


THE    DECLINE   OF   THE   MINGS.  163 

apprehensive  lest  the  youth  of  his  son  might  not  stir  up  dis- 
sension and  provoke  that  internal  strife  which  had  so  often 
proved  the  bane  of  the  empire  and  involved  the  wreck  of 
many  of  its  dynasties.  He  exhorted  his  ministers  to  stand 
by  his  son  who  was  only  a  boy,  to  give  him  the  best  advice 
in  their  power,  and  to  render  him  worthy  of  the  throne. 
That  the  apprehensions  of  Moutsong  were  not  without  rea- 
son was  clearly  shown  by  the  mishaps  and  calamities  which 
occurred  during  the  long  reign  of  his  son  and  successor 
Wanleh.  With  the  death  of  Moutsong  the  period  ends 
when  it  was  possible  to  state  that  the  majesty  of  the 
Mings  remained  undimmed,  and  that  this  truly  national 
dynasty  wielded  with  power  and  full  authority  the  impe- 
rial mandate.  When  they  had  driven  out  the  Mongol  the 
Mings  seem  to  have  settled  down  into  an  ordinary  and  in- 
tensely national  line  of  rulers.  The  successors  of  Hongwou 
did  nothing  great  or  noteworthy,  but  the  Chinese  acquiesced 
in  their  rule,  and  even  showed  that  they  possessed  for  it  a 
special  regard  and  affection. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   DECLINE   OP  THE   MINGS 

The  reign  of  Wanleh  covers  the  long  and  important 
epoch  from  1573  to  1620,  during  which  period  occurred 
some  very  remarkable  events  in  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try, including  the  first  movements  of  the  Manchus  with  a 
view  to  the  conquest  of  the  empire.  The  young  prince  was 
only  six  when  he  was  placed  on  the  throne,  but  he  soon 
showed  that  he  had  been  well-trained  to  play  the  part  of 
ruler.  The  best  indication  of  the  prosperity  of  the  realm  is 
furnished  by  the  revenue,  which  steadily  increased  until  it 
reached  the  great  total,  excluding  the  grain  receipts,  of  sev- 
enty-five millions  of  our  money.     But  a  large  revenue  be- 


i64  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

comes  of  diminished  value  unless  it  is  associated  with  sound 
finance.  The  public  expenditure  showed  a  steady  increase ; 
the  emperor  and  his  advisers  were  incapable  of  checking 
the  outlay,  and  extravagance,  combined  with  improvidence, 
soon  depleted  the  exchequer.  Internal  troubles  occurred  to 
further  embarrass  the  executive,  and  the  resources  of  the 
state  were  severely  strained  in  coping  with  more  than  one 
serious  rebellion,  among  which  the  most  formidable  was  the 
mutiny  of  a  mercenary  force  under  the  command  of  a  Turk 
officer  named  Popai,  who  imagined  that  he  was  unjustly 
treated,  and  that  the  time  was  favorable  to  found  an  ad- 
ministration of  his  own.  His  early  successes  encouraged 
him  to  believe  that  he  would  succeed  in  his  object;  but 
when  he  found  that  all  the  disposable  forces  of  the  empire 
were  sent  against  him,  he  abandoned  the  field,  and  shut 
himself  up  in  the  fortress  at  Ninghia,  where  he  hoped  to  hold 
out  indefinitely.  For  many  months  he  succeeded  in  baffling 
the  attacks  of  Wanleh's  general,  and  the  siege  might  even 
have  had  to  be  raised  if  the  latter  had  not  conceived  the 
idea  of  diverting  the  course  of  the  river  Hoangho,  so  that  it 
might  bear  upon  the  walls  of  the  fortress.  Popai  was  un- 
able to  resist  this  form  of  attack,  and  when  the  Chinese 
stormers  made  their  way  through  the  breach  thus  caused, 
he  attempted  to  commit  suicide  by  setting  fire  to  his  resi- 
dence. This  satisfaction  was  denied  him,  for  a  Chinese 
officer  dragged  him  from  the  flames,  slew  him,  and  sent 
his  head  to  the  general  Li  Jusong,  who  conducted  the 
siege,  and  of  whom  we  shall  hear  a  great  deal  more. 

The  gratification  caused  by  the  overthrow  of  Popai  had 
scarcely  abated  when  the  attention  of  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment was  drawn  away  from  domestic  enemies  to  a  foreign 
assailant  who  threatened  the  most  serious  danger  to  China. 
Reference  was  made  in  the  last  chapter  to  the  relations  be- 
tween the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese,  and  to  the  aggressions 
of  the  latter,  increased,  no  doubt,  by  Chinese  chicane  and 
their  own  naval  superiority  and  confidence.  But  nothing 
serious  might  have  come  out  of  these  unneighborly  relations 


THE   DECLINE   OF    THE   MINGS.  165 

if  they  had  not  furnished  an  ambitious  ruler  with  the  oppor- 
tunity of  embarking  on  an  enterprise  which  promised  to  in- 
crease his  empire  and  his  glory.  The  old  Japanese  ruling 
family  was  descended,  as  already  described,  from  a  Chinese 
exile;  but  the  hero  of  the  sixteenth  century  could  claim  no 
relationship  with  the  royal  house,  and  owed  none  of  his  suc- 
cess to  the  accident  of  a  noble  birth.  Fashiba,  called  by 
some  English  writers  Hideyoshi ;  by  the  Chinese  Pingsiuki ; 
and  by  the  Japanese,  on  his  elevation  to  the  dignity  of 
Tycoon,  Taiko  Sama,  was  originally  a  slave ;  and  it  is  said 
that  he  first  attracted  attention  by  refusing  to  make  the  pre- 
scribed obeisance  to  one  of  the  daimios  or  lords.  He  was  on 
the  point  of  receiving  condign  punishment,  when  he  pleaded 
his  case  with  such  ingenuity  and  courage  that  the  daimio 
not  only  forgave  him  his  offense,  but  gave  him  a  post  in 
his  service.  Having  thus  obtained  honorable  employment, 
Fashiba  devoted  all  his  energy  and  capacity  to  promoting 
the  interests  of  his  new  master,  knowing  well  that  his  posi- 
tion and  opportunities  must  increase  equally  with  them.  In 
a  short  time  he  made  his  lord  the  most  powerful  daimio  in 
the  land,  and  on  his  death  he  stepped,  naturally  enough, 
into  the  position  and  power  of  his  chief.  How  long  he 
would  have  maintained  himself  thus  in  ordinary  times  may 
be  matter  of  opinion,  but  he  resolved  to  give  stability  to  his 
position  and  a  greater  luster  to  his  name  by  undertaking  an 
enterprise  which  should  be  popular  with  the  people  and 
profitable  to  the  state.  The  Japanese  had  only  attempted 
raids  on  the  coast,  and  they  had  never  thought  of  estab 
lishing  themselves  on  the  mainland.  But  Fashiba  proposed 
the  conquest  of  China,  and  he  hoped  to  effect  his  purpose 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Corea.  "With  this  view  he 
wrote  the  king  of  that  country  the  following  letter:  "I  will 
assemble  a  mighty  host,  and,  invading  the  country  of  the 
Great  Ming,  I  will  fill  with  hoar-frost  from  my  sword  the 
whole  sky  over  the  400  provinces.  Should  I  carry  out  this 
purpose,  I  hope  that  Corea  will  be  my  vanguard.  Let  her 
not  fail  to  do  so,  for  my  friendship  to  your  honorable  coun- 


166  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

try  depends  solely  on  your  conduct  when  I  lead  my  army 
against  China." 

Fashiba  began  with  an  act  of  aggression  at  Corea's  ex- 
pense, by  seizing  the  important  harbor  of  Fushan.  Having 
thus  secured  a  foothold  on  the  mainland  and  a  gateway  into 
the  kingdom,  Fashiba  hastened  to  invade  Corea  at  the  head 
of  a  large  army.  The  capital  was  sacked  and  the  tombs  of 
Lipan's  ancestors  desecrated,  while  he  himself  fled  to  the 
Chinese  court  to  implore  the  assistance  of  Wanleh.  An 
army  was  hastily  assembled  and  marched  to  arrest  the 
progress  of  the  Japanese  invader,  who  had  by  this  reached 
Pingyang,  a  town  400  miles  north  of  Fushan.  An  action 
was  fought  outside  this  town.  The  advantage  rested  with 
the  Japanese,  who  succeeded  in  destroying  a  Chinese  regi- 
ment. After  this  a  lull  ensued  in  the  campaign,  and  both 
sides  brought  up  fresh  forces.  Fashiba  came  over  from 
Japan  with  further  supplies  and  troops  to  assist  his  general, 
Hingchang,  while  on  the  Chinese  side,  Li  Jusong,  the  captor 
of  Ninghia,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Chinese  army.  A 
second  battle  was  fought  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pingyang, 
and  after  some  stubborn  fighting  the  Japanese  were  driven 
out  of  that  town. 

The  second  campaign  was  opened  by  a  brilliant  feat  on 
the  part  of  Li  Jusong,  who  succeeded  in  surprising  and  de- 
stroying the  granaries  and  storehouses  constructed  by  the 
Japanese,  near  Seoul.  The  loss  of  their  stores  compelled 
the  Japanese  to  retire  on  Fushan,  but  they  did  no  with  such 
boldness  and  confidence  that  the  Chinese  did  not  venture  to 
attack  them.  The  ultimate  result  of  the  struggle  was  still 
doubtful  when  the  sudden  death  of  Fashiba  completely 
altered  the  complexion  of  the  situation.  The  Japanese 
army  then  withdrew,  taking  with  it  a  vast  amount  of 
booty  and  the  ears  of  10,000  Coreans.  The  Chinese  troops 
also  retired,  leaving  the  Corean  king  at  liberty  to  restore 
his  disputed  authority,  and  his  kingdom  once  more  sank 
into  its  primitive  state  of  exclusion  and  semi-darkness. 

For  the  first  time  in  Chinese  history  the  relations  between 


THE   DECLINE   OF    THE    MJNQSL  107 

the  Middle  Kingdom  and  Europeans  became  of  importance 
during  the  reign  of  Wanleh,  which  would  alone  give  it  a 
special  distinction.  The  Portuguese  led  the  way  for  Eu- 
ropean enterprise  in  China,  and  it  was  very  unfortunate  that 
they  did  so,  for  it  was  soon  written  of  them  that  "the  Portu- 
guese have  no  other  design  than  to  come  under  the  name  of 
merchants  to  spy  the  country,  that  they  may  hereafter  fall 
upon  it  with  fire  and  sword."  As  early  as  the  year  1560 
they  had  obtained  from  the  local  officials  the  right  to  found 
a  settlement  and  to  erect  sheds  for  their  goods  at  a  place 
which  is  now  known  as  Macao.  In  a  few  years  it  became  of 
so  much  importance  that  it  was  the  annual  restort  of  five  or 
six  hundred  Portuguese  merchants;  and  the  Portuguese,  by 
paying  a  yearly  rent  of  500  taels,  secured  the  practical  mo- 
nopoly of  the  trade  of  the  Canton  River,  which  was  then  and 
long  afterward  the  only  vent  for  the  external  trade  of  China. 
No  doubt  the  Portuguese  had  to  supplement  this  nominal 
rent  by  judicious  bribes  to  the  leading  mandarins.  Next 
after  the  Portuguese  came  the  Spaniards,  who,  instead  of 
establishing  themselves  on  the  mainland,  made  their  head- 
quarters in  a  group  of  the  Philippine  Islands. 

The  promotion  of  European  interests  in  China  owed  little 
or  nothing  to  the  forbearance  and  moderation  of  either  the 
Spaniards  or  Portuguese.  They  tyrannized  over  the  Chinese 
subject  to  their  sway,  and  they  employed  all  their  resources 
in  driving  away  other  Europeans  from  what  they  chose  to 
consider  their  special  commercial  preserves.  Thus  the  Dutch 
were  expelled  from  the  south  by  the  Portuguese  and  com- 
pelled to  take  refuge  in  Formosa,  while  the  English  and 
French  did  not  make  their  appearance,  except  by  occasional 
visits,  until  a  much  later  period,  although  it  should  be  re- 
corded that  the  English  Captain  Weddell  was  the  first  to 
discover  the  mouth  of  the  Canton  River,  and  to  make  his 
way  up  to  that  great  city. 

One  of  the  principal  troubles  of  the  Emperor  Wanleh 
arose  from  his  having  no  legitimate  heir,  and  his  ministers 
impressed  upon  him,  for  many  years,  the  disadvantage  of 


168  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF    CHINA. 

this  situation  before  he  would  undertake  to  select  one  of  his 
children  by  the  inferior  members  of  the  harem  as  his  suc- 
cessor. And  then  he  made  what  may  be  termed  a  divided 
selection.  He  proclaimed  his  eldest  son  heir-apparent,  and 
declared  the  next  brother  to  be  in  the  direct  order  of  succes- 
sion, and  conferred  on  him  the  title  of  Prince  Fou  Wang. 
The  latter  was  his  real  favorite,  and,  encouraged  by  his 
father's  preference,  he  formed  a  party  to  oust  his  elder 
brother  and  to  gain  the  heritage  before  it  was  due.  The 
intrigues  in  which  he  engaged  long  disturbed  the  court  and 
agitated  the  mind  of  the  emperor.  Supported  by  his  mother, 
Prince  Fou  "Wang  threatened  the  position  and  even  the  life 
of  the  heir-apparent,  Prince  Chu  Changlo,  but  the  plot  was 
discovered  and  Fou  Wang's  rank  would  not  have  saved  him 
from  the  executioner  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  special  inter- 
cession of  his  proposed  victim,  Chu  Changlo.  In  the  midst 
of  these  family  troubles,  as  well  as  those  of  the  state,  the 
Emperor  Wanleh  died,  after  a  long  reign,  in  1620.  The  last 
years  of  his  life  were  rendered  unhappy  and  miserable  by  the 
reverses  experienced  at  the  hands  of  the  new  and  formidable 
opponent  who  had  suddenly  appeared  upon  the  northern  fron- 
tier of  the  empire. 

Some  detailed  account  of  the  Manchu  race  and  of  the 
progress  of  their  arms  before  the  death  of  Wanleh  will  form 
a  fitting  prelude  to  the  description  of  the  long  wars  which 
resulted  in  the  conquest  of  China  and  in  the  placing  of  the 
present  ruling  family  on  the  Dragon  Throne. 

The  first  chief  of  the  Manchu  clan  was  a  mythical  per- 
sonage named  Aisin  Gioro,  who  flourished  in  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  while  Hongwou,  the  founder  of  the 
Mings,  was  employed  in  the  task  of  driving  out  the  Mongols. 
Aisin  Gioro  is  said  to  mean  Golden  Family  Stem,  and  thus 
the  connection  with  the  Kin  dynasty  finds  recognition  at  an 
early  stage.  His  birth  is  described  in  mythical  terms — it  is 
said  that  a  magpie  dropped  a  red  fruit  into  the  lap  of  a 
maiden  of  the  Niuche,  who  straightway  ate  it  and  conceived 
a  son.     The  skeptical  have  interpreted  this  as  meaning  that 


THE   DECLINE   OF   THE   MINOS.  169 

Aiein  Gioro  was  a  runaway  Mongol,  who  was  granted  shelter 
by  the  Niuche  of  Hootooala.  At  all  events  he  became  lord 
of  the  valley,  and  five  generations  later,  in  the  reign  of 
Wanleh,  his  descendant,  Huen,  was  head  of  the  Manchus. 
His  grandson,  the  great  Noorhachu,  was  born  in  the  year 
1559,  and  his  birth  was  attended  by  several  miraculous  cir- 
cumstances. He  is  said  "to  have  been  a  thirteen-months' 
child,  to  have  had  the  dragon  face  and  the  phenix  eye,  an 
enormous  chest,  large  ears,  and  a  voice  like  the  tone  of  the 
largest  bell." 

A  chief  named  Haida  was  the  first  to  stir  up  the  embers 
of  internecine  strife  among  the  Niuche  clans.  To  gratify 
his  own  ambition  or  to  avenge  some  blood  feuds,  he  obtained 
the  assistance  of  one  of  the  principal  Chinese  officers  on  the 
Leaoutung  borders,  and  thus  overran  the  territory  of  his 
neighbors.  Encouraged  by  his  first  successes,  Haida  pro- 
ceeded to  attack  the  chief  of  Goolo,  who  was  married  to  a 
cousin  of  Noorhachu,  and  who  at  once  appealed  to  Hootooala 
for  assistance.  The  whole  Manchu  clan  marched  to  his  res- 
cue, and  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  Noorhachu  had  his  first 
experience  of  war  on  a  large  scale.  The  Manchus  presented 
such  a  bold  front  that  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
Haida  and  his  Chinese  allies  would  have  failed  to  conquer 
Goolo  by  force,  but  they  resorted  to  fraud,  which  proved  only 
too  successful.  Haida  succeeded  in  enticing  the  old  chief 
Huen  and  his  son,  the  father  of  Noorhachu,  into  a  confer- 
ence, when  he  murdered  them  and  many  of  their  compan- 
ions. The  momentary  success  gained  by  this  breach  of  faith 
was  heavily  paid  for  by  the  incentive  it  gave  Noorhachu  to 
exact  revenge  for  the  brutal  and  cowardly  murder  of  his 
father  and  grandfather.  Haida  constructed  a  fortified  camp 
at  Toolun,  but  he  did  not  feel  secure  there  against  the  open 
attacks  of  Noorhachu  or  the  private  plots  he  formed  to  gain 
possession  of  his  person.  Several  times  Haida  fled  from 
Toolun  to  Chinese  territory,  where  he  hoped  to  enjoy  greater 
safety,  until  at  last  the  Chinese  became  tired  of  giving  him 
shelter  and  protecting  one  who  could  not  support  his  own 

8 


170  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

pretensions.      Then,  with  strange  inconstancy,  they  deliv 
ered  him  over  into  the  hands  of  Noorhachu,  who  straight- 
way killed  him,  thus  carrying  out  the   first  portion  of  his 
vow  to  avenge  the  massacre  at  Goolo. 

Then  Noorhachu  turned  all  his  attention  and  devoted  all 
his  energy  to  the  realization  of  the  project  which  Haida  had 
conceived,  the  union  of  the  Niuche  clans ;  but  whereas  Haida 
had  looked  to  Chinese  support  and  patronage  for  the  attain- 
ment of  his  object,  Noorhachu  resolved  to  achieve  success  as 
an  enemy  of  China  and  by  means  of  his  own  Manchu  fol- 
lowers. His  first  measure  was  to  carefully  select  a  site  for 
his  capital  on  a  plain  well  supplied  with  water,  and  then  to 
fortify  it  by  surrounding  it  with  three  walls.  He  then  drew 
up  simple  regulations  for  the  government  of  his  people,  and 
military  rules  imposing  a  severe  discipline  on  his  small 
army.  The  Chinese  appear  to  have  treated  him  with  in- 
difference, and  they  continued  to  pay  him  the  sums  of  money 
and  the  honorary  gifts  which  had  been  made  to  Haida. 
Several  of  the  Niuche  clans,  won  over  by  the  »uccess  and 
reputation  of  Noorhachu,  voluntarily  associated  themselves 
with  him,  and  it  was  not  until  the  year  1591  that  the  Manchu 
chief  committed  his  first  act  of  open  aggression  by  invading 
the  district  of  Yalookiang.  That  territory  was  soon  overrun 
and  annexed;  but  it  roused  such  a  fear  among  the  other 
Niuche  chiefs,  lest  their  fate  should  be  the  same,  that  seven 
of  them  combined,  under  Boojai,  to  overthrow  the  upstart 
who  aspired  to  play  the  part  of  a  dictator.  They  brought 
into  the  field  a  force  of  30,000  men,  including,  besides  their 
own  followers,  a  considerable  contingent  from  the  Mongols ; 
and  as  Noorhachu's  army  numbered  only  4,000  men,  it 
seemed  as  if  he  must  certainly  be  overwhelmed.  But,  small 
as  was  his  force,  it  enjoyed  the  incalculable  advantage  of 
discipline;  and  seldom  has  the  superiority  of  trained  troops 
over  raw  levies  been  more  conspicuously  illustrated  than  by 
this  encounter  between  warriors  of  the  same  race.  This 
battle  was  fought  at  Goolo  Hill,  and  resulted  in  the  decisive 
victory  of  Noorhachu.     Boojai  and  4,000  of  his  men  were 


THE    DECLINE    OF    THE   MINOS.  171 

killed,  a  large  number  of  his  followers  were  taken  prisoners 
and  enrolled  in  the  ranks  of  the  victor,  and  the  spoil  included 
many  suits  of  mail  and  arms  of  offense  which  improved  the 
state  of  Noorhachu's  arsenal.  Several  of  the  districts  which 
had  been  subject  to  these  confederated  princes  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  conqueror,  and  he  carried  his  authority 
northward  up  the  Songari  River  over  tribes  who  had  never 
recognized  any  southern  authority.  These  successes  paved 
the  way  to  an  attack  on  Yeho,  the  principality  of  Boojai, 
which  was  reputed  to  be  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  Niuche 
states ;  and  on  this  occasion  it  vindicated  its  reputation  by 
repelling  the  attack  of  Noorhachu.  Its  success  was  not  en- 
tirely due  to  its  own  strength,  for  the  Chinese  governor  of 
Leaoutung,  roused  at  last  to  the  danger  from  Noorhachu,  sent 
money  and  arms  to  assist  the  Yeho  people  in  their  defense. 

The  significance  of  this  repulse  was  diminished  by  other 
successes  elsewhere,  and  Noorhachu  devoted  his  main  atten- 
tion to  disciplining  the  larger  force  he  had  acquired  by  his 
later  conquests,  and  by  raising  its  efficiency  to  the  high  point 
attained  by  the  army  with  which  he  had  gained  his  first  tri- 
umphs. He  also  meditated  a  more  daring  and  important 
enterprise  than  any  struggle  with  his  kinsfolk;  for  he  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  essential  to  destroy  the  Chinese 
power  in  Leaoutung  before  he  should  undertake  any  further 
enterprise  in  Manchuria.  His  army  had  now  been  raised  to 
an  effective  strength  of  40,000  men,  and  the  Manchu  bow- 
man, with  his  formidable  bow,  and  the  Manchu  man-at- 
arms,  in  his  cotton  mail,  proof  to  the  arrow  or  spear,  Were 
as  formidable  warriors  as  then  existed  in  the  world.  Confi- 
dent in  his  military  power,  and  thinking,  no  doubt,  that  a 
successful  foreign  enterprise  was  the  best  way  to  rally  and 
confirm  the  allegiance  of  his  race,  Noorhachu  invaded 
Leaoutung,  and  published  a  proclamation  against  the  Chi- 
nese, which  became  known  as  the  Seven  Hates.  Instead  of 
forwarding  this  document  to  the  Chinese  Court  he  burned 
it  in  the  presence  of  his  army,  so  that  Heaven  itself  might 
judge  the  justice  of  the  cause  between  him  and  the  Chinese. 


172  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

It  was  in  the  year  1618  that  Noorhachu  invaded  Leaou- 
tung,  and  so  surprised  were  the  Chinese  at  his  audacity  that 
they  offered  little  or  no  resistance.  The  town  of  Fooshun  was 
captured  and  made  the  headquarters  of  the  Manchu  prince. 
From  this  place  he  sent  a  list  of  his  requirements  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  Leaoutung,  and  it  is  said  that  he  offered,  on  the  Chi- 
nese complying  with  his  terms,  to  withdraw  and  desist  from 
hostilities.  But  the  Chinese  did  not  appreciate  the  power  of 
this  new  enemy.  They  treated  his  grievances  with  indiffer- 
ence and  contempt,  and  they  sent  an  army  to  drive  him  out 
of  Leaoutung.  The  Chinese  troops  soon  had  a  taste  of  the 
quality  of  the  Manchu  army.  They  were  defeated  in  several 
encounters,  and  the  best  Chinese  troops  fled  before  the  im- 
petuous charge  of  the  Manchu  cavalry.  Noorhachu  then 
laid  siege  to  the  prefectural  town  of  Tsingho,  which  he  cap- 
tured after  a  siege  of  some  weeks,  and  where  he  massacred 
nearly  20,000  of  the  garrison  and  townspeople.  He  would 
have  continued  the  campaign  but  that  his  followers  de- 
manded to  be  led  back,  stating  that  they  feared  for  the 
safety  of  their  homes  at  the  hands  of  Yeho,  still  hostile  and 
aggressive  in  their  rear.  The  conquest  of  Leaoutung  was 
therefore  discontinued  for  the  purpose  of  closing  accounts 
with  the  last  of  the  Niuche  principalities ;  but  enough  had 
been  accomplished  to  whet  the  appetite  of  the  Manchu  leader 
for  more,  and  to  show  him  how  easy  it  was  to  vanquish  the 
Chinese.  On  his  return  to  his  capital,  Hingking,  he  pre- 
pared to  invade  Yeho,  but  his  plans  were  undoubtedly  de- 
layed by  the  necessity  of  resting  his  troops  and  of  allowing 
many  of  them  to  return  to  their  homes.  This  delay,  no 
doubt,  induced  the  Chinese  to  make  a  supreme  effort  to 
avert  the  overthrow  of  Yeho,  who  had  proved  so  useful  an 
ally,  and  accordingly  the  governor  of  Leaoutung  advanced 
with  100,000  men  into  Manchuria.  He  sacrificed  the  ad- 
vantage of  superior  numbers  by  dividing  his  army  into  four 
divisions,  with  very  inadequate  means  of  inter-communica- 
tion. Noorhachu  could  only  bring  60,000  men  into  the  field; 
but,  apart  from  their  high  training,  they  represented  a  com- 


THE   DECLINE   OF   THE   MINGS.  173 

pact  body  subject  to  the  direction  of  Noorhachu  axone.  The 
Manchu  leader  at  once  perceived  the  faulty  disposition  of 
the  Chinese  army,  and  he  resolved  to  attack  and  overwhelm 
each  corps  in  detail  before  it  could  receive  aid  from  the  oth- 
ers. The  strongest  Chinese  corps  was  that  operating  most 
to  the  west,  and  marching  from  Fooshun  on  Hingking;  and 
Noorhachu  perceived  that  if  he  could  overthrow  it  the  flank 
of  the  rest  of  the  Chinese  army  would  be  exposed,  and  its 
line  of  retreat  imperiled.  The  Chinese  general  in  command 
of  this  corps  was  impetuous  and  anxious  to  distinguish  him- 
self. His  courage  might  on  another  occasion  have  helped 
his  country,  but  under  the  circumstances  his  very  ardor 
served  the  purpose  of  Noorhachu.  Tousong,  such  was  his 
name,  marched  more  rapidly  than  any  of  his  comrades,  and 
reached  the  Hwunho — the  Tiber  of  the  Manchus — behind 
which  Noorhachu  had,  at  a  little  distance,  drawn  up  his 
army.  Without  pausing  to  reconnoiter,  or  to  discover  with 
what  force  he  had  to  deal,  Tousong  threw  himself  across  the 
river,  and  intrenched  himself  on  Sarhoo  Hill.  His  overcon- 
fylence  was  so  extreme  and  fatuous  that  he  weakened  his 
army  by  sending  a  detachment  to  lay  siege  to  the  town  of 
Jiefan.  The  Manchus  had,  however,  well  provided  for  the 
defense  of  that  place,  and  while  the  Chinese  detachment  sent 
against  it  was  being  destroyed,  Noorhachu  attacked  Tousong 
in  his  position  on  Sarhoo  Hill  with  the  whole  of  his  army. 
The  Chinese  were  overwhelmed,  Tousong  was  slain,  and  the 
majority  of  those  who  escaped  the  fray  perished  in  the  waters 
of  the  Hwunho,  beneath  the  arrows  and  javelins  of  the  pur- 
suing Manchus. 

Then  Noorhachu  hastened  to  attack  the  second  of  the 
Chinese  divisions  under  a  capable  officer  named  Malin,  who 
selected  a  strong  position  with  great  care,  and  wished  to 
stand  on  the  defensive.  His  wings  rested  on  two  hills  which 
he  fortified,  and  he  strengthened  his  center  in  the  interven- 
ing valley  with  a  triple  line  of  wagons.  If  he  had  only  re- 
mained in  this  position  he  might  have  succeeded  in  keeping 
Noorhachu  at  bay  until  he  could  have  been  joined  by  the  two 


174  A    SH0R7    HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

remaining  Chinese  corps ;  but  the  impetuosity  of  his  troops* 
or  it  may  have  been  the  artifice  of  the  Manchu  leader,  drew 
him  from  his  intrenchments.  At  first  the  Chinese  seemed 
to  have  the  best  of  the  battle,  but  in  a  short  time  victory 
turned  to  the  side  of  the  Manchus,  and  Malin  fled  with  the 
relics  of  his  force  back  to  Chinese  territory.  After  these  two 
successes  Noorhachu  proceeded  to  attack  the  third  Chinese 
corps  under  Liuyen,  who  had  acquired  a  cheap  reputation 
by  his  success  over  the  Miaotze.  He  had  no  better  fortune 
than  any  of  his  colleagues,  and  his  signal  defeat  completed 
the  Manchu  triumph  over  the  Chinese  army  of  invasion. 
The  defeat  of  Liuyen  was  effected  by  a  stratagem  as  much 
as  by  superior  force.  Noorhachu  dressed  some  of  his  troops 
in  the  Chinese  uniforms  he  had  captured,  and  sent  them 
among  the  Chinese,  who  received  them  as  comrades  until 
they  discovered  their  mistake  in  the  crisis  of  the  battle. 
During  this  campaign  it  was  computed  that  the  total  losses 
of  the  Chinese  amounted  to  310  general  officers  and  45,000 
private  soldiers.  Among  other  immediate  results  of  this 
success  were  the  return  of  20,000  Yeho  troops  to  their  homes 
and  the  defection  of  5,000  Coreans,  who  joined  Noorhachu. 
Like  all  great  commanders,  Noorhachu  gave  his  enemies  no 
time  to  recover  from  their  misfortunes.  He  pursued  Malin 
to  Kaiyuen,  which  he  captured,  with  so  many  prisoners  that 
it  took  three  days  to  count  them.  He  invaded  Yeho,  which 
recognized  his  authority  without  a  blow,  and  gave  him  an 
additional  30,000  fighting  men.  All  the  Niuche  clans  thus 
became  united  under  his  banner,  and  adopted  the  name  of 
Manchu.  He  had  succeeded  in  the  great  object  of  his  life, 
the  union  of  his  race,  and  he  had  well  avenged  the  death  of 
his  father  and  grandfather ;  but  his  ambition  was  not  satis- 
fied with  this  success.  It  had  rather  grown  with  the  widen- 
ing horizon  opened  by  the  discomfiture  of  the  Chinese,  and 
with  the  sense  of  military  superiority. 

Amid  these  national  disasters  the  long  reign  of  Wanleh 
closed  in  the  year  1620.  That  unhappy  monarch  lived  long 
enough  to  see  the  establishment  on  his  northern  borders  of 


THE    MAiXCHU    CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  175 

the  power  which  was  to  destroy  his  dynasty.  The  very  last 
act  of  his  reign  was,  whether  by  accident  or  good  judgment, 
the  most  calculated  to  prevent  the  Manchus  overrunning  the 
State,  and  that  was  the  selection  of  a  capable  general  in 
the  person  of  Hiung  Tingbi.  With  the  death  of  Wanleh  the 
decadence  of  Ming  power  became  clearly  marked,  and  the 
only  question  that  remained  was  whether  it  could  be  arrested 
before  it  resulted  in  absolute  ruin. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE   MANCHTJ   CONQUEST  OP  CHINA 

Tingbi,  with  the  wrecks  of  the  Chinese  armies,  succeeded 
in  doing  more  for  the  defense  of  his  country  than  had  been 
accomplished  by  any  of  his  predecessors  with  undiminished 
resources.  He  built  a  chain  of  forts,  he  raised  the  garrison 
of  Leaoutung  to  180,000  men,  and  he  spared  no  effort  to 
place  Leaouyang,  the  capital  of  that  province,  in  a  position 
to  stand  a  protracted  siege.  If  his  counsels  had  been  fol- 
lowed to  the  end,  he  might  have  succeeded  in  permanently 
arresting  the  flood  of  Manchu  conquest;  but  at  the  very 
moment  when  his  plans  promised  to  give  assured  success,  he 
fell  into  disgrace  at  the  capital,  and  his  career  was  summa- 
rily ended  by  the  executioner.  The  greatest  compliment  to 
his  ability  was  that  Noorhachu  remained  quiescent  as  long 
as  he  was  on  the  frontier,  but  as  soon  as  he  was  removed  he 
at  once  resumed  his  aggression  on  Chinese  soil. 

Meanwhile,  Wanleh  had  been  succeeded  on  the  Chinese 
throne  by  his  son,  Chu  Changlo,  who  took  the  name  of 
Kwangtsong.  He  was  an  amiable  and  well-meaning  prince, 
whose  reign  was  unquestionably  cut  short  by  foul  means. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  he  was  poisoned  by  the  mother  of 
his  half-brother,  from  a  wish  to  secure  the  throne  for  her 
son ;  but  if  so  she  never  gained  the  object  that  inspired  her 
crime,  for  the  princes  of  the  family  met  in  secret  conclave 


176  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

and  selected  Kwangtsong's  son,  a  youth  of  sixteen,  as  his 
successor.  The  choice  did  not  prove  fortunate,  as  this  prince 
became  known  as  Tienki  the  Unhappy,  whose  reign  wit- 
nessed the  culmination  of  Ming  misfortunes.  One  of  his 
first  acts  was  the  removal  of  Tingbi  from  his  command, 
and  this  error  of  judgment,  aggravated  by  the  ingratitude 
it  implied  to  a  faithful  servant,  fitly  marked  the  commence- 
ment of  a  reign  of  incompetence  and  misfortune. 

In  1621  the  Manchu  war  reopened  with  an  attack  on 
Moukden  or  Fanyang,  which  Noorhachu  had  marked  out 
as  his  next  object.  The  garrison  was  numerous,  and  might 
have  made  a  good  defense,  for  the  walls  were  strong ;  but  the 
commandant  was  brave  to  the  degree  of  temerity,  and,  leav- 
ing his  fortress,  marched  out  to  meet  the  Manchus  in  the 
open.  The  result  was  a  decisive  overthrow,  and  the  victors 
entered  Moukden  at  the  heels  of  the  vanquished.  The  Chi- 
nese still  resisted,  and  a  terrible  slaughter  ensued,  but  the 
Manchus  retained  their  conquest.  At  this  juncture  the  Chi- 
nese were  offered  the  assistance  of  the  Portuguese  at  Macao, 
who  sent  a  small  body  of  200  men,  armed  with  arquebuses 
and  with  several  cannon,  to  Pekin;  but  after  some  hesita- 
tion the  Chinese,  whether  from  pride  or  contempt  of  so  small 
a  force,  declined  to  avail  themselves  of  their  service,  and 
thus  lost  an  auxiliary  that  might  have  turned  the  fortune  of 
the  war  in  their  favor.  The  Portuguese  were  sent  back  to 
Macao,  and,  although  the  Chinese  kept  the  cannon,  and  em- 
ployed the  Jesuit  priests  in  casting  others  for  them,  nothing 
came  of  an  incident  which  might  have  exercised  a  lasting 
influence  not  merely  on  the  fortune  of  the  war,  but  also  on 
the  relations  between  the  Chinese  and  Europeans.  The  Chi- 
nese sent  several  armies  to  recover  Moukden ;  but,  although 
they  took  these  guns  with  them,  they  met  with  no  success, 
and  Noorhachu  made  it  the  base  of  his  plan  of  attack  on 
Leaouyang,  the  capital  of  the  province.  The  defense  of  this 
important  town  was  intrusted  to  Yuen  Yingtai,  the  court 
favorite  and  incompetent  successor  of  Tingbi.  That  officer, 
unwarned  by  the  past,  and  regardless  of  the  experience  of 


THE   MANCHU   CONQUEST  OF  CHINA.  17? 

so  many  of  his  predecessors,  weakened  himself  and  invited 
defeat  by  attempting  to  oppose  the  Manchus  in  the  open. 
He  was  defeated,  losing  some  of  his  best  soldiers,  and  com- 
pelled to  shut  himself  up  in  the  town  with  a  disheartened 
garrison.  The  Manchus  gained  an  entrance  into  the  city. 
Then  a  terrible  encounter  took  place.  The  garrison  was 
massacred  to  a  man,  Yuen  Yingtai,  brave,  if  incapable,  com- 
mitted suicide,  and  those  of  the  townspeople  who  wished  to 
save  their  lives  had  to  shave  their  heads  in  token  of  subjec- 
tion. This  is  the  first  historical  reference  to  a  practice  that 
is  now  universal  throughout  China,  and  that  has  become 
what  may  be  called  a  national  characteristic.  The  badge 
of  conquest  has  changed  to  a  mark  of  national  pride ;  but  it 
is  strange  to  find  that  the  Chinese  themselves  and  the  most 
patient  inquirers  among  sinologues  are  unable  to  say  what 
was  the  origin  of  the  pig-tail.  They  cannot  tell  us  whether 
shaving  the  head  was  the  national  custom  of  the  Manchus, 
or  whether  Noorhachu  only  conceived  this  happy  idea  of  dis- 
tinguishing those  who  surrendered  to  his  power  among  the 
countless  millions  of  the  long-haired  people  of  China.  All 
that  can  be  said  of  the  origin  of  the  pig-tail  is  that  it  was 
first  enforced  as  a  badge  of  subjugation  by  the  Manchus  at 
the  siege  of  Leaouyang,  and  that  thenceforward,  until  the 
whole  of  China  was  conquered,  it  was  made  the  one  condi- 
tion of  immunity  from  massacre. 

The  capture  of  Leaouyang  signified  the  surrender  of  the 
remaining  places  in  Leaoutung,  which  became  a  Manchu 
possession,  and  Noorhachu,  to  celebrate  his  triumph,  and 
also  to  facilitate  his  plans  for  the  further  humiliation  of  the 
Chinese,  transferred  his  capital  from  Moukden  to  Leaouyang. 
Misfortunes  never  come  singly.  In  Szchuen  a  local  chief  had 
raised  a  force  of  30,000  men  for  service  on  the  frontier  in  the 
wars  with  the  Manchus,  and  the  viceroy  of  the  province  not 
only  declined  to  utilize  their  services,  but  dismissed  them 
without  reward  or  even  recognition  of  their  loyalty.  These 
slighted  and  disbanded  braves  easily  changed  themselves 
into  brigands,  and  as  the  government  would  not  have  them 


178  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

as  supporters,  they  determined  to  make  it  feel  their  enmity. 
Chetsong  Ming,  the  chief  who  had  raised  them,  placed  him- 
self at  their  head,  and  attracted  a  large  number  of  the  in- 
habitants to  his  standard.  The  local  garrisons  were  crushed, 
the  viceroy  killed,  and  general  disorder  prevailed  among  the 
people  of  what  was  the  most  fertile  and  prosperous  province 
of  the  empire.  Chetsong  attempted  to  set  up  an  administra- 
tion, but  he  does  not  deem  to  have  possessed  the  capacity  or 
the  knowledge  to  establish  a  regular  government.  While 
he  headed  the  rebellious  movement,  a  woman  named  Tsin- 
leang,  the  hereditary  chieftainess  of  a  small  district,  placed 
herself  at  the  head  of  the  loyalists  in  the  state,  and,  leading 
them  herself,  succeeded  in  recovering  the  principal  cities 
and  in  driving  Chetsong  out  of  the  province.  She  has  been 
not  inappropriately  called  by  one  of  the  missionary  historians 
the  Chinese  Penthesilea.  The  success  she  met  with  in  paci- 
fying Szchuen  after  a  two  years'  struggle  was  not  attained 
in  other  directions  without  a  greater  effort  and  at  a  still 
heavier  cost.  In  Kweichow  and  Yunnan  a  rebel  named 
Ganpangyen  raised  an  insurrection  on  a  large  scale,  and  if 
his  power  had  not  been  broken  by  the  long  siege  of  a  strong 
fortress,  obstinately  defended  by  a  valiant  governor,  there 
is  no  telling  to  what  success  he  might  not  have  attained. 
But  his  followers  were  disheartened  by  the  delay  in  carrying 
this  place,  and  they  abandoned  him  as  soon  as  they  found 
that  he  could  not  command  success.  In  Shantung  another 
rising  occurred;  but  after  two  years'  disturbance  the  rebel 
leader  was  captured  and  executed.  These  internal  disorders, 
produced  by  the  corruption  and  inertness  of  the  officials  as 
much  as  by  a  prevalent  sense  of  the  embarrassment  of  the 
Mings,  distracted  the  attention  of  the  central  government 
from  Manchuria,  and  weakened  its  preparations  against 
Noorhachu. 

For  a  time  Noorhachu  showed  no  disposition  to  cross  the 
River  Leaou,  and  confined  his  attention  to  consolidating  his 
position  in  his  new  conquest.  But  it  was  clear  that  this  lull 
would  not  long  continue,  and  the  Chinese  emperor,  Tienki, 


THE   MANCHV    CONQUEST    OF   CHINA.  179 

endeavored  to  meet  the  coming  storm  by  once  more  intrust- 
ing the  defense  of  the  frontier  to  Tingbi.  That  general  de- 
vised a  simple  and  what  might  have  proved  an  efficacious 
line  of  defense,  but  his  colleague,  with  more  powerful  influ- 
ence at  court,  would  have  none  of  it,  and  insisted  on  his 
own  plan  being  adopted.  Noorhachu  divined  that  the  coun- 
cils of  the  Chinese  were  divided,  and  that  Tingbi  was  ham- 
pered. He  promptly  took  advantage  of  the  divergence  of 
opinion,  and,  crossing  the  frontier,  drove  the  Chinese  behind 
the  Great  Wall.  Even  that  barrier  would  not  have  arrested 
his  progress  but  for  the  stubborn  resistance  offered  by  the 
fortress  of  Ningyuen — a  town  about  seventy  miles  north- 
east of  Shanhaikwan,  once  of  great  importance,  but  now, 
for  many  years  past,  in  ruins.  "When  he  reached  that  place 
he  found  that  Tingbi  had  fallen  into  disgrace  and  been  ex- 
ecuted, not  for  devising  his  own  plan  of  campaign,  but  for 
animadverting  on  that  of  his  colleague  in  satirical  terms. 
The  Chinese  had  made  every  preparation  for  the  resolute 
defense  of  Ningyuen,  and  when  Noorhachu  sat  down  before 
it,  its  resolute  defender,  Chungwan,  defied  him  to  do  his 
worst,  although  all  the  Chinese  troops  had  been  compelled  to 
retreat,  and  there  was  no  hope  of  re-enforcement  or  rescue. 
At  first  Noorhachu  did  not  conduct  the  siege  of  Ningyuen 
in  person.  It  promised  to  be  an  affair  of  no  great  impor- 
tance, and  he  intrusted  it  to  his  lieutenants,  but  he  soon  per- 
ceived that  Chungwan  was  a  resolute  soldier,  and  that  the 
possession  of  Ningyuen  was  essential  to  the  realization  of 
his  future  plans.  Therefore,  he  collected  all  his  forces  and 
sat  down  before  Ningyuen  with  the  full  determination  to 
capture  it  at  all  costs.  But  the  garrison  was  resolute,  its 
commander  capable,  and  on  the  walls  were  arranged  the 
cannon  of  European  construction.  Noorhachu  led  two  as- 
saults in  person,  both  of  which  were  repulsed,  and  it  is  said 
that  this  result  was  mainly  due  to  the  volleys  of  the  Euro- 
pean artillery.  At  last,  Noorhachu  was  compelled  to  with- 
draw his  troops,  and  although  he  obtained  some  successes  in 
other  parts  of  the  country,  he  was  so  chagrined  at  this  re- 


180  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

pulse  that  he  fell  ill  and  died  some  months  later  at  Moukden, 
in  September,  1626. 

Noorhachu  was  succeeded  by  his  fourth  son,  the  fourth 
Beira  or  Prince,  known  as  Taitsong,  who  continued  both  his 
work  and  policy.  Taitsong  was  as  determined  to  humiliate 
the  Mings  as  his  father  had  been.  He  commenced  his  offen- 
sive measures  by  an  attack  on  Corea,  which  he  speedily  re- 
duced to  such  a  pass  that  it  accepted  his  authority  and  trans- 
ferred its  allegiance  from  the  Mings  to  the  Manchus.  This 
was  an  important  success,  as  it  secured  his  eastern  flank  and 
deprived  the  Chinese  of  a  useful  ally  in  the  Forbidden  King- 
dom. It  encouraged  Taitsong  to  think  that  the  time  was 
once  more  ripe  for  attacking  Ningyuen,  and  he  laid  siege 
to  that  fortress  at  the  head  of  a  large  army,  including  the 
flower  of  his  troops.  Notwithstanding  the  energy  of  his  at- 
tack, Chungwan,  the  former  bold  defender  of  the  place,  had 
again  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  Manchus  repulsed,  and 
compelled  to  admit  that  the  ramparts  of  Ningyuen  presented 
a  serious  if  not  insuperable  obstacle  to  their  progress.  Al- 
most at  the  very  moment  of  this  success  the  Emperor  TienH 
died,  and  was  succeeded,  in  1627,  by  his  younger  brother, 
Tsongching,  who  was  destined  to  be  the  last  of  the  Ming 
rulers. 

The  repulse  of  Taitsong  before  Ningyuen  might  have 
been  fatal  if  he  had  not  been  a  man  of  great  ability  and 
resource.  The  occasion  called  for  some  special  effort,  and 
Taitsong  proved  himself  equal  to  it  by  a  stroke  of  genius 
that  showed  he  was  the  worthy  inheritor  of  the  mission  of 
Noorhachu.  Without  taking  anybody  into  his  confidence 
he  ordered  his  army  and  his  allies,  the  Kortsin  Mongols,  to 
assemble  in  the  country  west  of  Ningyuen,  and  when  he 
had  thus  collected  over  a  hundred  thousand  men,  he  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  ignoring  Ningyuen  and  marching 
direct  on  Pekin.  At  this  juncture  Taitsong  divided  his 
army  into  eight  banners,  which  still  remain  the  national 
divisions  of  the  Manchu  race.  The  Manchus  seem  to  have 
been  a  little  alarmed  by  the  boldness  of  Taitsong's  scheme, 


THE   MANCHU   CONQUEST    OF  CHINA.  181 

and  they  might  have  hesitated  to  follow  him  if  he  had  given 
them  any  time  for  reflection,  but  his  plans  were  not  fully 
known  until  his  forces  were  through  the  Dangan  Pass  on 
the  march  to  the  capital.  The  Chinese,  relying  altogether 
on  Ningyuen  as  a  defense,  had  made  no  preparation  to  hold 
their  ground  on  this  side,  and  Taitsong  encountered  no  oppo- 
sition until  he  reached  Kichow.  Then  Chungwan,  realizing 
that  he  had  been  outmaneuvered,  and  that  the  defenses  of 
Ningyuen  had  been  turned,  hastened  back  by  forced  marches 
to  defend  Pekin.  Owing  to  his  road  being  the  better  of  the 
two  he  gained  the  capital  in  time,  and  succeeded  in  throw- 
ing himself  and  his  troops  into  it  in  order  to  defend  it 
against  the  assault  of  the  Manchus.  After  Taitsong  sat 
down  before  Pekin  he  engaged  in  an  intrigue  for  the  ruin 
of  Chungwan,  whose  disgrace  would  be  equivalent  to  a 
great  victory.  The  method  is  not  to  be  approved  on  gen- 
eral grounds,  but  Taitsong  conceived  that  he  was  justified 
in  bribing  persons  in  Pekin  to  discredit  Chungwan  and 
compass  his  ruin.  The  emperor  was  persuaded  that  Chung- 
wan was  too  powerful  a  subject  to  be  absolutely  loyal,  and 
it  was  asserted  that  he  was  in  communication  with  the 
enemy.  Chungwan,  who  had  been  so  long  the  buttress  of 
the  kingdom,  was  secretly  arrested  and  thrown  into  a  prison 
from  which  he  never  issued.  The  disappearance  of  Chung- 
wan was  as  valuable  to  Taitsong  as  a  great  victory,  and  he 
made  his  final  preparations  for  assaulting  Pekin ;  but  either 
the  want  of  supplies  or  the  occurrence  of  some  disturbance 
in  his  rear  prevented  the  execution  of  his  plan.  He  drew 
off  his  forces  and  retired  behind  the  Great  "Wall  at  the  very 
moment  when  Pekin  seemed  at  his  mercy. 

During  four  years  of  more  or  less  tranquillity  Taitsong 
confined  his  attention  to  political  designs,  and  to  training  a 
corps  of  artillery,  and  then  he  resumed  his  main  project  of 
the  conquest  of  China.  Instead  of  availing  themselves  of 
the  lull  thus  afforded  to  improve  their  position,  the  Chinese 
ministers  seemed  to  believe  that  the  danger  from  the  Man- 
chus had  passed  away,  and  they  treated  all  the  communica- 


182  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

tions  from  Taitsong  with  imprudent  and  unnecessary  dis- 
dain. Their  attention  was  also  distracted  by  many  internal 
troubles,  produced  by  their  own  folly,  as  well  as  by  the 
perils  of  the  time. 

Taitsong,  in  1634,  resumed  his  operations  in  China,  and 
on  this  occasion  he  invaded  the  province  of  Shansi,  at  the 
head  of  an  army  composed  largely  of  Mongols  as  well  as  of 
Manchus.  Although  the  people  of  Shansi  had  not  had  any 
practical  experience  of  Manchu  prowess,  and  notwithstand- 
ing that  their  frontier  was  exceedingly  strong  by  nature, 
Taitsong  met  with  little  or  no  resistance  from  either  the 
local  garrisons  or  the  people  themselves.  One  Chinese 
governor,  it  is  said,  ventured  to  publish  a  boastful  report 
of  an  imaginary  victory  over  the  Manchus,  and  to  send  a 
copy  of  it  to  Pekin.  Taitsong,  however,  intercepted  the 
letter,  and  at  once  sent  the  officer  a  challenge,  matching 
1,000  of  his  men  against  10,000  of  the  Chinese.  That  the 
offer  was  not  accepted  is  the  best  proof  of  the  superiority 
of  the  Manchu  army. 

It  was  at  the  close  of  this  successful  campaign  in  Shansi, 
that  Taitsong,  in  the  year  1635,  assumed,  for  the  first  time 
among  any  of  the  Manchu  rulers,  the  style  of  Emperor  of 
China.  Events  had  long  been  moving  in  this  direction,  but 
an  accident  is  said  to  have  determined  Taitsong  to  take  this 
final  measure.  The  jade  seal  of  the  old  Mongol  rulers  was 
suddenly  discovered,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  Taitsong. 
When  the  Mongols  heard  of  this,  forty-nine  of  their  chiefs 
hastened  to  tender  their  allegiance  to  Taitsong,  and  the  only 
condition  made  was  that  the  King  of  Corea  should  be  com- 
pelled to  do  so  likewise.  Taitsong,  nothing  loth,  at  once 
sent  off  letters  to  the  Corean  court  announcing  the  adhesion 
of  the  Mongols,  and  calling  upon  the  king  of  that  state  to 
recognize  his  supremacy.  But  the  Corean  ruler  had  got 
wind  of  the  contents  of  these  letters  and  declined  to  open 
them,  thus  hoping  to  get  out  of  his  difficulty  without  offend- 
ing his  old  friends  the  Chinese.  But  Taitsong  was  not  to  be 
put  off  in  this  fashion.     He  sent  an  army  to  inflict  chastise- 


THE   MANCHU   CONQUEST    OF  CHINA.  183 

ment  on  his  neighbor,  and  its  mission  was  successfully  dis- 
charged. The  king  and  his  family  were  taken  prisoners, 
although  they  had  fled  to  the  island  of  Gangwa  for  safety, 
and  Corea  became  a  Manchu  possession.  The  last  years  of 
Taitsong's  life  were  spent  in  conducting  repeated  expedi- 
tions into  the  provinces  of  Shansi  and  Pechihli,  but  the 
strength  of  the  fortresses  of  Ningyuen  and  Shanhaikwan  on 
the  Great  Wall  effectually  prevented  his  renewing  his  at- 
tempt on  Pekin.  These  two  places  with  the  minor  forts  of 
Kingchow  and  Songshan  formed  a  quadrilateral  that  effect- 
ually secured  Pekin  on  its  northern  side,  and  being  intrusted 
to  the  defense  of  "Wou  Sankwei,  a  general  of  great  capacity, 
of  whom  much  more  will  be  heard,  all  Taitsong's  ability 
and  resources  were  taxed  to  overcome  those  obstacles  to  his 
progress  south  of  the  Great  Wall.  He  succeeded  after  great 
loss,  and  at  the  end  of  several  campaigns,  in  taking  King- 
chow and  Songshan,  but  these  were  his  last  successes,  for  in 
the  year  1643  he  was  seized  with  a  fatal  illness  at  Moukden, 
which  terminated  his  career  at  the  comparatively  early  age 
of  fifty-two.  Taitsong's  premature  death,  due,  in  all  prob- 
ability, to  the  incompetence  of  his  physicians,  cut  short  a 
career  that  had  not  reached  its  prime,  and  retarded  the  con- 
quest of  China,  for  the  supreme  authority  among  the  Man- 
chus  then  passed  from  a  skillful  and  experienced  ruler  into 
the  hands  of  a  child. 

The  possession  of  a  well-trained  army,  the  production  of 
two  great  leaders  of  admitted  superiority,  and  forty  years 
of  almost  continuously  successful  war,  had  not  availed  to 
bring  the  authority  of  the  Manchus  in  any  permanent  form 
south  of  the  Great  Wall.  The  barrier  of  Tsin  Che  Hwangti 
still  kept  out  the  most  formidable  adversary  who  had  ever 
borne  dowu  upon  it,  and  the  independence  of  China  seemed 
far  removed  from  serious  jeopardy.  At  this  juncture  events 
occurred  that  altered  the  whole  situation,  and  the  internal 
divisions  of  the  Chinese  proved  more  serious  and  entailed  a 
more  rapid  collapse  than  all  the  efforts  of  the  Manchus. 

The  arch  rebel  Li  Tseching,  who  proved  more  formidable 


184  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

to  the  Ming  ruler  than  his  Manchu  opponent,  was  the  son 
of  a  peasant  in  the  province  of  Shansi.  At  an  early  age  he 
attached  himself  to  the  profession  of  arms,  and  became  well 
known  as  a  skillful  archer  and  horseman.  In  1629,  he  first 
appears  on  the  scene  as  member  of  a  band  of  robbers,  who 
were,  however,  destroyed  by  a  rare  display  of  energy  on  the 
part  of  one  of  the  emperor's  lieutenants.  Li  was  one  of  the 
few  who  were  fortunate  enough  to  escape  with  their  lives 
and  liberty.  He  soon  gathered  round  him  another  band, 
and  under  his  successful  and  courageous  leading  it  shortly 
acquired  the  size  of  an  army.  One  reason  of  his  success 
was  his  forming  an  alliance  with  the  Mohammedan  settlers 
in  Kansuh,  who  were  already  known  as  Tungani  or  "Colo- 
nists." But  the  principal  cause  of  his  success  was  his  skill 
and  promptitude  in  coming  to  terms  with  the  imperial  au- 
thorities whenever  they  became  too  strong  for  him,  and  he 
often  purchased  a  truce  when,  if  the  officials  had  pushed 
home  their  advantage,  he  must  have  been  destroyed.  His 
power  thus  grew  to  a  high  point,  while  that  of  other  robber 
chiefs  only  waxed  to  wane  and  disappear;  and  about  the 
year  1640,  when  it  was  said  that  his  followers  numbered 
half  a  million  of  men,  he  began  to  think  seriously  of  dis- 
placing the  Ming  and  placing  himself  on  the  throne  of 
China.  "With  this  object  in  view  he  laid  siege  to  the  town 
of  Honan,  the  capital  of  the  province  of  the  same  name. 
At  first  the  resolution  of  the  governor  baffled  his  attempt, 
but  treachery  succeeded  when  force  failed.  A  traitor  opened 
a  gate  for  a  sum  of  money  which  he  was  never  paid,  and 
Li's  army  burst  into  the  city.  The  garrison  was  put  to  the 
sword,  and  horrible  outrages  were  perpetrated  on  the  towns- 
people. From  Honan  Li  marched  on  Kaifong,  which  he 
Desieged  for  seven  days;  but  he  did  not  possess  the  neces- 
sary engines  to  attack  a  place  of  any  strength,  and  Kaifong 
was  reputed  to  be  the  strongest  fortress  in  China.  He  was 
obliged  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  pursued  by  an  army  that 
the  imperial  authorities  had  hurriedly  collected.  There  is 
reason  to  think  his  retreat  was  a  skillful  movement  to  the 


THE   MANCHU  CONQUEST  OF    CHINA.  185 

rear  in  order  to  draw  the  emperor's  troops  after  him.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  they  pursued  him  in  four  separate  corps,  and 
that  he  turned  upon  them  and  beat  them  one  after  the  other. 
When  he  had  vanquished  these  armies  in  four  separate  en- 
counters he  again  laid  siege  to  Kaifong,  and  it  was  thought 
that  he  would  have  taken  it,  when  Li  was  wounded  by  an 
arrow,  and  called  off  his  troops  in  consequence.  Several 
times  afterward  he  resumed  the  attempt,  but  with  no  better 
fortune,  until  an  accident  accomplished  what  all  his  power 
had  failed  to  do.  The  governor  had  among  other  precau- 
tions flooded  the  moat  from  the  Hoangho,  and  this  extra 
barrier  of  defense  had  undoubtedly  done  much  toward  dis- 
comfiting the  besiegers.  But  in  the  end  it  proved  fatal  to 
the  besieged,  for  the  Hoangho,  at  all  times  capricious  in  its 
movements,  and  the  source  of  as  much  trouble  as  benefit  to 
the  provinces  it  waters,  rose  suddenly  to  the  dimensions  of 
a  flood,  and  overflowing  its  banks  spread  over  the  country. 
Many  of  Li's  soldiers  were  drowned,  and  his  camp  was 
flooded,  but  the  most  serious  loss  befell  the  Imperialists  in 
Kaifong.  The  waters  of  the  river  swept  away  the  walls 
and  flooded  the  town.  Thousands  perished  at  the  time, 
and  those  who  attempted  to  escape  were  cut  down  by  the 
rebels  outside.  Kaifong  itself  was  destroyed  and  has  never 
recovered  its  ancient  importance,  being  now  a  town  of  only 
the  third  or  fourth  rank.  This  great  success  established  the 
reputation  of  Li  Tseching  on  a  firm  basis,  and  constituted 
him  one  of  the  arbiters  of  his  country's  destiny.  He  found 
himself  master  of  one-third  of  the  state;  proclaimed  himself 
Emperor  of  China,  under  the  style  of  Yongchang,  and  gave 
his  dynasty  the  name  of  Tachun.  Having  taken  this  step  of 
open  defiance  to  the  Ming  government,  Li  invaded  Shansi, 
which  he  reduced  to  subjection  with  little  difficulty  or  blood- 
shed. An  officer,  named  Likintai,  was  sent  to  organize  some 
measures  of  defense,  but,  on  arrival,  he  found  the  province 
in  the  hands  of  the  rebel,  and  he  had  no  choice  save  to  beat 
a  discreet  and  rapid  retreat.  The  success  of  Li  continued 
unchecked.     Important  places  like  Taiyuen  and  Taitong 


186  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA 

surrendered  to  him  after  a  merely  nominal  resistance,  and 
when  they  fell  there  was  no  further  impediment  in  the 
way  of  his  marching  on  Pekin. 

No  preparations  had  been  made  to  defend  Pekin.  The 
defenses  were  weak,  the  garrison  insufficient,  as  all  the  best 
troops  were  on  the  frontier,  and  the  citizens  disposed  to  come 
to  terms  with  the  assailant  rather  than  to  die  in  the  breach 
for  their  sovereign.  "When  Li  pitched  his  tent  outside  the 
western  gate  of  the  capital,  and  sent  a  haughty  demand  to 
the  emperor  to  abdicate  his  throne,  he  was  master  of  the  situ- 
ation ;  but  Tsongching,  ignorant  of  his  own  impotence,  defied 
and  upbraided  his  opponent  as  a  rebel.  His  indignation  was 
turned  to  despair  when  he  learned  that  the  troops  had  aban- 
doned his  cause,  that  the  people  were  crying  out  for  Li 
Tseching,  and  that  that  leader's  followers  were  rapidly  ap- 
proaching his  palace.  Tsongching  strangled  himself  with 
his  girdle,  but  only  one  officer  was  found  devoted  enough  to 
share  his  fate.  Although  Tsongching  had  some  nominal 
successors,  he  was,  strictly  speaking,  the  last  of  the  Ming 
emperors,  and  with  him  the  great  dynasty  founded  by  Hong- 
wou  came  to  an  end.  The  many  disasters  that  preceded  its 
fall  rendered  the  loss  of  the  imperial  station  less  of  a  blow 
to  the  individual,  and  the  last  of  the  Ming  rulers  seems  to 
have  even  experienced  relief  on  reaching  the  term  of  his 
anxieties.  The  episode  of  the  faithful  officer,  Li  Kweiching, 
concludes  the  dramatic  events  accompanying  the  capture  of 
Pekin  and  the  fall  of  the  dynasty.  After  the  death  of  his 
sovereign  he  attempted  to  defend  the  capital ;  but  overpow- 
ered by  numbers  he  surrendered  to  the  victor,  who  offered 
him  an  honorable  command  in  his  service.  Li  Kweiching 
accepted  the  offer  on  the  stipulation  that  he  should  be  allowed 
to  give  the  Emperor  Tsongching  honorable  burial,  and  that 
the  surviving  members  of  the  Ming  family  should  be  spared, 
These  conditions,  so  creditable  to  Li  Kweiching,  were  grant- 
ed; but*  at  the  funeral  of  his  late  sovereign,  grief  or  a  spirit 
of  duty  so  overcame  him  that  he  committed  suicide  on  the 
grave  of  Tsongching.     Li  Tseching,  who  had  counted  on 


THE    MANCHU   CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  187 

valuable  assistance  from  this  officer,  became  furious  at  this 
occurrence.  He  plundered  and  destroyed  the  ancestral  tem- 
ple of  the  Mings,  and  he  caused  every  member  of  the  im- 
perial family  on  whom  he  could  lay  hands  to  be  executed. 
Thus  terminated  the  events  at  Pekin  in  the  absolute  and 
complete  triumph  of  the  rebel  Li  Tseching,  and  the  panic 
produced  by  his  success  and  severity  blinded  observers  to 
the  hollowness  of  his  power,  and  to  the  want  of  solidity 
in  his  administration.  Yet  it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  he 
were  left  the  virtual  master  of  China. 

While  the  Ming  power  was  collapsing  before  the  onset  of 
Li  Tseching,  there  still  remained  the  large  and  well-trained 
Ming  army  in  garrison  on  the  Manchu  frontier,  under  com- 
mand of  the  able  general,  Wou  Sankwei.  At  the  eleventh 
hour  the  Emperor  Tsonching  had  sent  a  message  to  Wou 
Sankwei,  begging  him  to  come  in  all  haste  to  save  the  capi- 
tal ;  and  that  general,  evacuating  Ningyuen,  and  leaving  a 
small  garrison  at  Shanhaikwan,  had  begun  his  march  for 
Pekin,  when  he  learned  that  it  had  fallen  and  that  the  Ming 
dynasty  had  ceased  to  be.  Placed  in  this  dilemma,  between 
the  advancing  Manchus,who  immediately  occupied  Ningyuen 
on  his  evacuation  of  it,  and  the  large  rebel  force  in  possession 
of  Pekin,  Wou  Sankwei  had  no  choice  between  coming  to 
terms  with  one  or  other  of  them.  Li  Tseching  offered  him 
liberal  rewards  and  a  high  command,  but  in  vain,  for  Wou 
Sankwei  decided  that  it  would  be  better  to  invite  the  Manchus 
to  enter  the  country,  and  to  assist  them  to  conquer  it.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  this  course  was  both  the  wiser  and  the 
more  patriotic,  for  Li  Tseching  was  nothing  more  than  a 
successful  brigand  on  a  large  scale;  whereas  the  Manchu 
government  was  a  respectable  one,  was  well  organized,  and 
aspired  to  revive  the  best  traditions  of  the  Chinese.  Having 
come  to  a  prompt  decision,  Wou  Sankwei  lost  no  time  in 
promptly  carrying  it  out.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Manchus, 
asking  them  to  send  an  army  to  co-operate  with  his  in  driv- 
ing Li  Tseching  out  of  Pekin;  and  the  Manchus,  at  once 
realizing  that  the  moment  had  arrived  for  conquering  China* 


188  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

acquiesced  promptly  in  his  plans,  sent  forward  their  advanced 
corps,  and  ordered  a  levee  en  masse  of  the  nation  for  the 
conquest  of  China.  Assured  of  his  rear,  and  also  of  speedy 
re-enforcement,  Wou  Sankwei  did  not  delay  a  day  in  march- 
ing on  Pekin.  Li  Tseching  sent  out  a  portion  of  his  army 
to  oppose  the  advance  of  Wou  Sankwei;  but  the  officer's 
instructions  were  rather  to  negotiate  than  to  fight,  for  to  the 
last  Li  Tseching  expected  that  Wou  Sankwei  would  come 
over  to  his  side.  He  was  already  beginning  to  feel  doubtful 
as  to  the  security  of  his  position;  and  his  fears  were  increased 
by  his  superstition,  for  when,  on  entering  Pekin,  he  passed 
under  a  gate  above  which  was  written  the  character  "joong" 
(middle),  he  exclaimed,  drawing  his-  bow  at  the  same  time, 
"If  I  hit  this  joong  in  the  middle,  it  is  a  sign  I  have  gained 
the  whole  empire,  as  the  empire  is  joong,  the  middle  king- 
dom." His  arrow  missed  its  mark.  The  apprehensions  of 
Li  Tseching  were  soon  confirmed,  for  Wou  Sankwei  defeated 
the  first  army  he  had  sent  out  with  a  loss  of  20,000  men.  Li 
does  not  seem  to  have  known  of  the  alliance  between  that 
officer  and  the  Manchus,  for  he  marched  at  the  head  of 
60,000  men  to  encounter  him.  He  took  with  him  the  aged 
father  of  Wou  Sankwei  and  two  Ming  princes,  who  had  sur- 
vived the  massacre  of  their  family,  with  a  view  to  appealing 
to  the  affection  and  loyalty  of  that  commander;  but  these 
devices  proved  vain. 

Won  Sankwei  drew  up  his  forces  at  Yungping  in  a  strong 
position  near  the  scene  of  his  recent  victory ;  his  front  seems 
to  have  been  protected  by  the  river  Zanho,  and  he  calmly 
awaited  the  attack  of  Li  Tseching,  whose  army  far  out- 
numbered his.  Up  to  this  point  Wou  Sankwei  had  not  been 
joined  by  any  of  the  Manchus,  but  a  body  was  known  to  be 
approaching,  and  he  was  anxious  to  put  off  the  battle  until 
they  arrived.  For  the  same  reason  Li  Tseching  was  as  anx- 
ious to  begin  the  attack,  and,  notwithstanding  the  strength 
of  Wou  Sankwei's  position,  he  ordered  his  troops  to  engage 
without  delay.  Adopting  the  orthodox  Chinese  mode  of 
attack  of  forming  his  army  in  a  crescent,  so  that  the  extreme 


THE   MANCHU   CONQUEST   OF   CHINA.  189 

wings  should  overlap  and  gradually  encompass  those  of  the 
enemy,  Li  trusted  to  his  numerical  superiority  to  give  him 
the  victory.  At  one  moment  it  seemed  as  if  his  expectation 
would  be  justified;  for,  bravely  as  Wou  Sankwei  and  his 
army  fought,  the  weight  of  numbers  was  telling  its  inevi- 
table tale  when  a  Manchu  corps  opportunely  arrived,  and 
attacking  the  Chinese  with  great  impetuosity,  changed  the 
fortune  of  the  day  and  put  the  army  of  Li  Tseching  to  the 
rout.  Thirty  thousand  men  are  said  to  have  fallen  on 
the  field,  and  Li  himself  escaped  from  the  carnage  with 
only  a  few  hundred  horsemen. 

After  this  Li  met  with  disaster  after  disaster.  He  was 
driven  out  of  Shansi  into  Honan,  and  from  Honan  into 
Shensi.  Wou  Sankwei  took  Tunkwan  without  firing  a  shot, 
and  when  Li  attempted  to  defend  Singan  he  found  that  his 
soldiers  would  not  obey  his  orders,  and  wished  only  to  come 
to  terms  with  "Wou  Sankwei.  Expelled  from  the  last  of  his 
towns  he  took  refuge  in  the  hills,  but  the  necessity  of  obtain- 
ing provisions  compelled  him  now  and  then  to  descend  into 
the  plains,  and  on  one  of  these  occasions  he  was  surprised  in 
a  village  and  killed.  His  head  was  placed  in  triumph  over 
the  nearest  prefecture,  and  thus  ended  the  most  remarkable 
career  of  a  princely  robber  chieftain  to  be  found  in  Chinese 
annals.  At  one  time  it  seemed  as  if  Li  Tseching  would  be 
the  founder  of  a  dynasty,  but  his  meteor-like  career  ended 
not  less  suddenly  than  his  rise  to  supreme  power  was  rapid. 
Extraordinary  as  was  his  success,  "Wou  Sankwei  had  rightly 
gauged  its  nature  when  he  declared  that  it  had  no  solid  basis. 

The  overthrow  of  Li  Tseching  paved  the  way  for  a  fresh 
difficulty.  It  had  been  achieved  to  a  large  extent  by  the 
military  genius  of  Wou  Sankwei  and  by  the  exertions  of  his 
Chinese  army.  That  officer  had  invited  the  Manchus  into 
the  country,  but  when  victory  was  achieved  he  showed  some 
anxiety  for  their  departure.  This  was  no  part  of  the  com- 
pact, nor  did  it  coincide  with  the  ambition  of  the  Ma*ichus. 
They  determined  to  retain  the  territory  they  had  conquered, 
at  the  same  time  that  they  endeavored  to  propitiate  Wou 


190  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

Sankwei  and  to  retain  the  command  of  his  useful  services. 
He  was  given  the  high  sounding  title  of  Ping-si  Wang,  or 
Prince  Pacifier  of  the  West,  and  many  other  honors.  Grat- 
ified by  these  rewards  and  unable  to  discover  any  person 
who  could  govern  China,  Wou  Sankwei  gradually  reconciled 
himself  to  the  situation  and  performed  his  duty  faithfully  as 
the  most  powerful  lieutenant  of  the  young  Manchu  ruler, 
Chuntche,  the  son  of  Taitsong,  who,  after  the  fall  of  Li 
Tseching,  removed  his  capital  to  Pekin,  and  assumed  the 
style  and  ceremony  of  a  Chinese  emperor.  The  active  ad- 
ministration was  intrusted  to  Prince  Dorgun,  brother  of 
Taitsong,  who  now  became  known  as  Ama  Wang,  the 
Father  Prince,  and  who  acted  as  regent  during  the  long 
minority  of  his  nephew.  The  new  dynasty  was  inaugurated 
at  Pekin  with  a  grand  ceremony  and  court. 

After  this  formal  and  solemn  assumption  of  the  govern- 
ing power  in  China  by  the  young  Manchu  prince,  the 
activity  of  the  Manchus  increased,  and  several  armies  were 
sent  south  to  subject  the  provinces,  and  to  bring  the  whole 
Chinese  race  under  his  authority.  For  some  time  no  serious 
opposition  was  encountered,  as  the  disruption  of  Li's  forces 
entailed  the  surrender  of  all  the  territory  north  of  the 
Hoangho.  But  at  Nankin,  and  in  the  provinces  south  of 
the  Yangtsekiang,  an  attempt  had  been  made,  and  not 
unsuccessfully,  to  set  up  a  fresh  administration  under  one 
of  the  members  of  the  prolific  Ming  family.  Fou  Wang, 
a  grandson  of  Wanleh,  was  placed  on  the  Dragon  Throne 
of  Southern  China  in  this  hope,  but  his  character  did  not 
justify  the  faith  reposed  in  him.  He  thought  nothing  of  the 
serious  responsibility  he  had  accepted,  but  showed  that  he 
regarded  his  high  station  merely  as  an  opportunity  for  grati- 
fying his  own  pleasures.  There  is  little  or  no  doubt  that  if 
he  had  shown  himself  worthy  of  his  station  he  might  have 
rallied  to  his  side  the  mass  of  the  Chinese  nation,  and  Wou 
Sankwei,  who  had  shown  some  signs  of  chafing  at  Manchu 
authority,  might  have  been  won  back  by  a  capable  and  sym- 
pathetic sovereign.     But  notwithstanding  the  ability  of  Fou 


THE   MANCHU   CONQUEST    OF   CHINA.  191 

Wang's  minister,  Shu  Kofa,  who  strove  to  repair  the  errors 
of  his  master,  the  new  Ming  power  at  Nankin  did  not  pros- 
per. Wou  Sankwei,  cautious  not  to  commit  himself,  rejected 
the  patent  of  a  duke  and  the  money  gifts  sent  him  by  Shu 
Kofa,  while  Ama  Wang,  on  his  side,  sought  to  gain  over 
Shu  Kofa  by  making  him  the  most  lavish  promises  of  re- 
ward. But  that  minister  proved  as  true  to  his  sovereign 
as  Wou  Sankwei  did  to  the  Manchu.  The  result  of  the  long 
correspondence  between  them  was  nil,  but  it  showed  the 
leaders  of  the  Manchus  in  very  favorable  colors,  as  wishing 
to  avert  the  horrors  of  war,  and  to  simplify  the  surrender  of 
provinces  which  could  not  be  held  against  them.  When 
Ama  Wang  discovered  that  there  was  no  hope  of  gaining 
over  Shu  Kofa,  and  thus  paving  his  way  to  the  disintegra- 
tion of  the  Nankin  power,  he  decided  to  prosecute  the  war 
against  the  surviving  Ming  administration  with  the  greatest 
activity. 

While  these  preparations  were  being  made  to  extend  the 
Manchu  conquest  over  Central  China,  all  was  confusion  at 
Nankin.  Jealousies  between  the  commanders,  none  of  whom 
possessed  much  merit  or  experience,  bickerings  among  the 
ministers,  apathy  on  the  part  of  the  ruler,  and  bitter  disap- 
pointment and  disgust  in  the  ranks  of  the  people,  all  com- 
bined to  precipitate  the  overthrow  of  the  ephemeral  throne 
that  had  been  erected  in  the  Southern  capital.  Ama  Wang 
Waited  patiently  to  allow  these  causes  of  disintegration  time 
to  develop  their  full  force,  and  to  contribute  to  the  ruin  of 
the  Mings,  but  in  the  winter  of  1644-45  he  decided  that  the 
right  moment  to  strike  had  come.  Shu  Kofa  made  some 
effort  to  oppose  the  Manchu  armies,  and  even  assumed  the 
command  in  person,  although  he  was  only  a  civilian,  but 
his  troops  had  no  heart  to  oppose  the  Manchus,  and  the  de- 
vices to  which  he  resorted  to  make  his  military  power  appear 
more  formidable  were  both  puerile  and  ineffective.  Yet  one 
passage  may  be  quoted  to  his  credit  if  it  gave  his  opponent 
an  advantage.  It  is  affirmed  on  good  authority  that  he  could 
have  obtained  a  material  advantage  if  he  would  only  have 


192  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

flooded  the  country,  but  he  "refused  to  do  so,  on  the  ground 
that  more  civilians  would  perish  than  Manchus,  and  he  said, 
'First  the  people,  next  the  dynasty.'  "  The  sentiment  was 
a  noble  one,  but  it  was  too  severe  a  crisis  to  admit  of  any 
sentiment,  especially  when  fighting  an  up-hill  battle,  and 
Shu  Kofa,  soon  realizing  that  he  was  not  qualified  to  play 
the  part  of  a  great  soldier,  resolved  to  end  his  existence.  He 
took  shelter  with  a  small  force  in  the  town  of  Yangchow, 
and  when  he  heard  that  the  Manchus  were  entering  the 
gate,  he  and  his  officers  committed  suicide.  The  Chinese 
lamented  and  were  crushed  by  his  death.  In  him  they  saw 
the  last  of  their  great  men,  and,  no  doubt,  they  credited  him 
with  a  higher  capacity  even  than  he  possessed.  Only  a 
military  genius  of  the  first  rank  could  have  saved  the  Mings, 
and  Shu  Kofa  was  nothing  more  than  a  conscientious  and 
capable  civil  mandarin,  ignorant  of  war.  His  fortitude  could 
only  be  measured  by  his  indifference  to  life,  and  by  his 
resolve  to  anticipate  the  fall  of  his  sovereign  as  soon  as  he 
saw  it  to  be  inevitable. 

Fou  Wang  speedily  followed  the  fate  of  his  faithful  min- 
ister; for,  when  the  Manchus  marched  on  Nankin,  he  aban- 
doned his  capital,  and  sought  safety  in  flight.  But  one  of 
his  officers,  anxious  to  make  favorable  terms  for  himself  with 
the  conqueror,  undertook  his  capture,  and  coming  up  with 
him  when  on  the  point  of  entering  a  junk  to  put  to  sea,  Fou 
"Wang  had  no  alternative  left  between  an  ignominious  sur- 
render and  suicide.  He  chose  the  latter  course,  and  throw- 
ing himself  into  the  river  was  drowned,  thus  ending  hia 
own  career,  and  the  Ming  dynasty  in  its  southern  capital 
of  Nankin* 

Meantime  dissension  further  weakened  the  already  dis- 
couraged Chinese  forces.  The  pirate  Ching  Chelong,  who 
was  the  mainstay  of  the  Ming  cause,  cherished  the  hope 
that  he  might  place  his  own  family  on  the  throne,  and  he 
endeavored  to  induce  the  Ming  prince  to  recognize  his  son, 
Koshinga,  as  his  heir.  Low  as  he  had  fallen,  it  is  to  the 
credit  of  this  prince  that  he  refused  to  sign  away  the  birth- 


THE  MANCHU   CONQUEST  OF  CHINA.  193 

right  of  his  family.  Ching  was  bitterly  chagrined  at  this 
refusal,  and  after  detaching  his  forces  from  the  other  Chi- 
nese he  at  last  came  to  the  resolution  to  throw  in  his  lot  with 
the  Manchus.  He  was  promised  honorable  terms,  but  the 
Tartars  seem  to  have  had  no  intention  of  complying  with 
them,  so  far  at  least  as  allowing  him  to  retain  his  liberty. 
For  they  sent  him  off  to  Pekin,  where  he  was  kept  in  honor- 
able confinement,  notwithstanding  his  protests  and  promises, 
and  the  defiant  threats  of  his  son  Koshinga.  In  preserving 
his  life  he  was  more  fortunate  than  the  members  of  the  Ming 
family,  who  were  hunted  down  in  a  remorseless  manner  and 
executed  with  all  their  relations  on  capture.  The  only  place 
that  offered  any  resistance  to  the  Manchus  was  the  town  of 
Kanchow,  on  the  Kan  River,  in  Kiangsi.  The  garrison  de- 
fended themselves  with  desperate  valor  during  two  months, 
and  a  council  of  war  was  held  amid  much  anxiety,  to  con- 
sider whether  the  siege  should  be  abandoned.  Bold  counsels 
prevailed.  The  Manchus  returned  to  the  attack,  and  had  the 
satisfaction  of  carrying  the  town  by  assault,  when  the  garri- 
son were  put  to  the  sword. 

The  relics  of  the  Chinese  armies  gathered  for  a  final  stand 
in  the  city  of  Canton,  but  unfortunately  for  them  the  leaders 
were  still  divided  by  petty  jealousies.  One  Ming  prince  pro- 
claimed himself  Emperor  at  Canton,  and  another  in  the  ad- 
joining province  of  Kwangsi.  Although  the  Manchus  were 
gathering  their  forces  to  overwhelm  the  Chinese  in  their  last 
retreat,  they  could  not  lay  aside  their  divisions  and  petty 
ambitions  in  order  to  combine  against  the  national  enemy, 
but  must  needs  assail  one  another  to  decide  which  should 
have  the  empty  title  of  Ming  emperor.  The  Manchus  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  two  rivals  break  their  strength 
against  each  other,  and  then  they  advanced  to  crush  the 
victor  at  Canton.  Strong  as  the  place  was  said  to  be,  it 
offered  no  serious  resistance,  and  the  great  commercial  city 
of  the  south  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  race  who  had  sub- 
dued the  whole  country  from  Pekin  to  the  Tonquin  frontier. 
At  this  moment  the  fortune  of  the  Manchus  underwent  a 

9 


194  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

sudden  and  inexplicable  change.  Two  repulses  before  a  for- 
tress southwest  of  Canton,  and  the  disaffection  of  a  large 
part  of  their  Chinese  auxiliaries,  who  clamored  for  their  pay, 
seem  to  have  broken  the  strength  of  the  advanced  Manchu 
army.  A  wave  of  national  antipathy  drove  the  Tartars  out 
of  Canton  and  the  southern  provinces,  but  it  soon  broke  its 
force,  and  the  Manchus,  returning  with  fresh  troops,  speed- 
ily recovered  all  they  had  lost,  and  by  placing  stronger  gar- 
risons in  the  places  they  occupied  consolidated  their  hold  on 
Southern  China.  Although  the  struggle  between  the  Man- 
chus and  their  new  subjects  was  far  from  concluded,  the 
conquest  of  China  as  such  may  be  said  to  have  reached  its 
end  at  this  stage.  How  a  small  Tartar  tribe  succeeded  after 
fifty  years  of  war  in  imposing  its  yoke  on  the  skeptical, 
freedom-loving,  and  intensely  national  millions  of  China 
will  always  remain  one  of  the  enigmas  of  history. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   FIRST   MANCHU   RULER 

"While  the  Manchu  generals  and  armies  were  estab- 
lishing their  power  in  Southern  China  the  young  Emperor 
Chuntche,  under  the  direction  of  his  prudent  uncle,  the 
regent  Ama  Wang,  was  setting  up  at  Pekin  the  central 
power  of  a  ruling  dynasty.  In  doing  so  little  or  no  oppo- 
sition was  experienced  at  the  hands  of  the  Chinese,  who 
showed  that  they  longed  once  more  for  a  settled  govern- 
ment; and  this  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese 
people  in  their  authority  no  doubt  induced  the  Manchu 
leaders  to  adopt  a  far  more  conciliatory  and  lenient  policy 
toward  the  Chinese  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the 
case.  Ama  Wang  gave  special  orders  that  the  lives  and 
property  of  all  who  surrendered  to  his  lieutenants  should 
be  scrupulously  respected.  This  moderation  was  only  de- 
parted from  in  the  case  of  some  rebels  in  Shensi,  who,  after 


THE   FIRST  MANCHU  RULER.  195 

accepting,  repudiated  the  Manchu  authority,  and  laid  close 
siege  tc  the  chief  town  of  Singan,  which  held  a  garrison  of 
only  3,000  Manchus.  The  commandant  wished  to  make  his 
position  secure  by  massacring  the  Chinese  of  the  town,  but 
he  was  deterred  from  taking  this  extreme  step  by  the  repre- 
sentations of  a  Chinese  officer,  who,  binding  himself  for  the 
good  faith  of  his  countrymen,  induced  him  to  enroll  them 
in  the  ranks  of  the  garrison.  They  proved  faithful  and  ren- 
dered excellent  service  in  the  siege;  and  when  a  relieving 
Manchu  army  came  from  Pekin  the  rebels  were  quickly 
scattered  and  pursued  with  unflagging  bitterness  to  their 
remotest  hiding  places. 

In  the  province  of  Szchuen  a  Chinese  leader  proclaimed 
himself  Si  Wang,  or  King  of  the  West.  He  was  execrated 
by  those  who  were  nominally  his  subjects.  Among  the  most 
heinous  of  his  crimes  was  his  invitation  to  literary  men  to 
come  to  his  capital  for  employment,  and  when  they  had  as- 
sembled to  the  number  of  30,000,  to  order  them  to  be  mas- 
sacred. He  dealt  in  a  similar  manner  with  3,000  of  his  cour- 
tiers, because  one  of  them  happened  to  omit  a  portion  of  his 
full  titles.  His  excesses  culminated  in  the  massacre  of  Chen- 
tu,  when  600,000  innocent  persons  are  said  to  have  perished. 
Even  allowing  for  the  Eastern  exaggeration  of  numbers,  the 
crimes  of  this  inhuman  monster  have  rarely,  if  ever,  been 
surpassed.  His  rage  or  appetite  for  destruction  was  not  ap- 
peased by  human  sacrifices.  He  made  equal  war  on  the 
objects  of  nature  and  the  works  of  man.  He  destroyed 
cities,  leveled  forests,  and  overthrew  all  the  public  monu- 
ments that  embellished  his  province.  In  the  midst  of  his 
excesses  he  was  told  that  a  Manchu  army  had  crossed  the 
frontier,  but  he  resolved  to  crown  his  inhuman  career  by  a 
deed  unparalleled  in  the  records  of  history,  and,  what  is 
more  extraordinary,  he  succeeded  in  inducing  his  followers 
to  execute  his  commands.  His  project  was  to  massacre  all 
the  women  in  attendance  on  his  army. 

When  the  assembly  took  place  Si  Wang  slew  his  wives 
coram  populo,  and  his  followers,  seized  with  an  extreme 


196  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

frenzy,  followed  his  example.  It  is  said  that  as  many  as 
400,000  women  were  slain  that  day,  and  Si  "Wang,  intoxi- 
cated by  his  success  in  inducing  his  followers  to  execute  his 
inhuman  behests,  believed  that  he  had  nothing  to  fear  at 
the  hands  of  the  Manchus.  But  he  was  soon  undeceived, 
for  in  one  of  the  earliest  affairs  at  the  outposts  he  was  killed 
by  an  arrow.  His  power  at  once  crumbled  away,  and 
Szchuen  passed  under  the  authority  of  the  Manchus.  The 
conquest  of  Szchuen  paved  the  way  for  the  recovery  of  the 
position  that  had  been  lost  in  Southern  China,  and  close 
siege  was  laid  to  the  city  of  Canton.  Outside  Canton  the 
Manchus  carried  everything  before  them,  and  that  city  itself 
at  last  was  captured,  after  what  passed  for  a  stubborn  re- 
sistance.    Canton  was  given  over  to  pillage. 

At  this  moment  of  success  Ama  "Wang,  the  wise  regent, 
died,  and  Chuntche  assumed  the  reins  of  government.  He 
at  once  devoted  his  attention  to  administrative  reforms. 
Corruption  had  begun  to  sway  the  public  examinations,  and 
Chuntche  issued  a  special  edict,  enjoining  the  examiners  to 
give  fair  awards  and  to  maintain  the  purity  of  the  service. 
But  several  examiners  had  to  be  executed  and  others  ban- 
ished beyond  the  "Wall  before  matters  were  placed  on  a 
satisfactory  basis.  He  also  adopted  the  astronomical  system 
in  force  in  Europe,  and  he  appointed  the  priest  Adam  Schaal 
head  of  the  Mathematical  Board  at  Pekin.  But  his  most 
important  work  was  the  institution  of  the  Grand  Council, 
which  still  exists,  and  which  is  the  supreme  power  under  the 
emperor  in  the  country.  It  is  composed  of  only  four  mem- 
bers— two  Manchus  and  two  Chinese--who  alone  possess  the 
privilege  of  personal  audience  with  the  emperor  whenever 
they  may  demand  it.  As  this  act  gave  the  Chinese  an  equal 
place  with  the  Manchus  in  the  highest  body  of  the  empire  it 
was  exceedingly  welcome,  and  explains,  among  other  causes, 
the  popularity  and  stability  of  the  Manchu  dynasty.  "When 
allotting  Chuntche  his  place  among  the  founders  of  Manchu 
greatness,  allowance  must  be  made  for  this  wise  and  far- 
reaching  measure. 


THE   FIRST  MANCHU  RULER.  19? 

An  interesting  event  in  the  reign  of  Chuntche  was  the 
arrival  at  Pekin  of  more  than  one  embassy  from  European 
States.  The  Dutch  and  the  Russians  can  equally  claim  the 
honor  of  having  had  an  envoy  resident  in  the  Chinese  capi- 
tal during  the  year  1656. 

In  1661  the  health  of  Chuntche  became  so  bad  that  it 
was  evident  to  his  courtiers  that  his  end  was  drawing  near, 
although  he  was  little  more  than  thirty  years  of  age.  On 
his  deathbed  he  selected  as  his  successor  the  second  of  his 
sons,  who  afterward  became  famous  as  the  Emperor  Kanghi. 
Kanghi  assumed  the  persona]  direction  of  affairs  when  only 
fourteen  years  of  age.  Such  a  bold  step  undoubtedly  be- 
tokened no  ordinary  vigor  on  the  part  of  a  youth,  and  its 
complete  success  reflected  still  further  credit  upon  him. 

The  interest  of  the  period  passes  from  the  scenes  at  court 
to  the  camp  of  Won  Sankwei,  who,  twenty  years  earlier, 
had  introduced  the  Manchus  into  China.  During  the  Man* 
chu  campaign  in  Southern  China  he  had  kept  peace  on  the 
western  frontier,  gradually  extending  his  authority  from 
Shensi  into  Szchuen  and  thence  over  Yunnan.  When  a 
Ming  prince,  Kwei  "Wang,  who  had  fled  into  Burmah,  re- 
turned with  the  support  of  the  king  of  that  country  to  make 
another  bid  for  the  throne,  he  found  himself  confronted  by 
all  the  power  and  resources  of  Wou  Sankwei,  who  was  still 
as  loyal  a  servant  of  the  Manchu  emperor  as  when  he  car- 
ried his  ensigns  against  Li  Tseching.  Kwei  Wang  does  not 
appear  to  have  expected  opposition  from  Wou  Sankwei,  and 
m  the  first  encounter  he  was  overthrown  and  taken  prisoner. 
The  conqueror,  who  was  already  under  suspicion  at  the 
Manchu  court,  and  whom  every  Chinese  rebel  persisted  in 
regarding  as  a  natural  ally,  now  hesitated  as  to  how  he 
should  treat  these  important  prisoners.  Kwei  Wang  and 
his  son — the  last  of  the  Mings — were  eventually  led  forth 
to  execution,  although  it  should  be  stated  that  a  less  authen- 
tic report  affirms  they  were  allowed  to  strangle  themselves. 
Having  made  use  of  Wou  Sankwei,  and  obtained,  as  they 
thought,  the  full  value  of  his  services,  the  Manchus  sought 


198  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

to  treat  him  with  indifference  and  to  throw  him  into  the 
shade.  But  the  splendor  of  his  work  was  such  that  they 
had  to  confer  on  him  the  title  of  Prince,  and  to  make  him 
viceroy  of  Yunnan  and  the  adjacent  territories.  He  exerted 
such  an  extraordinary  influence  over  the  Chinese  subjects 
that  they  speedily  settled  down  under  his  authority;  revenue 
and  trade  increased,  and  the  Manchu  authority  was  main- 
tained without  a  Tartar  garrison,  for  "Wou  Sankwei's  army 
was  composed  exclusively  of  Chinese,  and  its  nucleus  was 
formed  by  his  old  garrison  of  Ningyuen  and  Shanhaikwan. 
There  is  no  certain  reason  for  saying  that  Wou  Sankwei 
nursed  any  scheme  of  personal  aggrandizement,  but  the 
measures  he  took  and  the  reforms  he  instituted  were  calcu- 
lated to  make  his  authority  become  gradually  independent 
of  Manchu  control.  For  a  time  the  Manchu  government 
suppressed  its  apprehensions  on  account  of  this  powerful 
satrap,  by  the  argument  that  in  a  few  years  his  death  in 
the  course  of  nature  must  relieve  it  from  this  peril,  but  Wou 
Sankwei  lived  on  and  showed  no  signs  of  paying  the  com- 
mon debt  of  humanity.  Then  it  seemed  to  Kanghi  that 
Wou  Sankwei  was  gradually  establishing  the  solid  founda- 
tion of  a  formidable  and  independent  power.  The  Manchu 
generals  and  ministers  had  always  been  jealous  of  the  greater 
fame  of  Wou  Sankwei.  When  they  saw  that  Kanghi  wanted 
an  excuse  to  fall  foul  of  him,  they  carried  every  tale  of  al- 
leged self-assertion  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  viceroy  to  the 
imperial  ears,  and  represented  that  his  power  dwarfed  the 
dignity  of  the  Manchu  throne  and  threatened  its  stability. 
At  last  Kanghi  resolved  to  take  some  decisive  step  to 
bring  the  question  to  a  climax,  and  he  accordingly  sent 
Wou  Sankwei  an  invitation  to  visit  him  at  Pekin.  Wou 
Sankwei  excused  himself  from  going  to  court  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  very  old,  and  that  his  only  wish  was 
to  end  his  days  in  peace.  He  also  deputed  his  son  to  tender 
his  allegiance  to  the  emperor  and  to  perform  the  Kotao  in 
his  name.  But  Kanghi  was  not  to  be  put  off  in  this  way, 
and  he  sent  two  trusted  officials  to  Wou  Sankwei  to  repre- 


THE    FIRST    MANCHU   RULER.  199 

sent  that  he  must  comply  with  the  exact  terms  of  his  com- 
mand, and  to  point  out  the  grave  consequences  of  his  refus- 
ing. Wou  Sankwei  cast  off  his  allegiance  to  the  Manchus, 
and  entered  upon  a  war  which  aimed  at  the  subversion  of 
their  authority.  Such  was  the  reputation  of  this  great  com- 
mander, to  whose  ability  and  military  prowess  the  Manchus 
unquestionably  were  indebted  for  their  conquest  of  the  em- 
pire, that  a  large  part  of  Southern  China  at  once  admitted 
his  authority,  and  from  Szchuen  to  the  warlike  province  of 
Hunan  his  lieutenants  were  able  to  collect  all  the  fighting 
resources  of  the  state,  and  to  array  the  levies  of  those  prov- 
inces in  the  field  for  the  approaching  contest  with  Kanghi. 
While  "Wou  Sankwei  was  making  these  extensive  prep- 
arations in  the  south,  his  son  at  Pekin  had  devised  an  ingen- 
ious and  daring  plot  for  the  massacre  of  the  Manchus  and  the 
destruction  of  the  dynasty.  He  engaged  in  his  scheme  the 
large  body  of  Chinese  slaves  who  had  been  placed  in  servi- 
tude under  their  Tartar  conquerors,  and  these,  incited  by  the 
hope  of  liberty,  proved  very  ready  tools  to  his  designs.  They 
bound  themselves  together  by  a  solemn  oath  to  be  true  to  one 
another,  and  all  the  preparations  were  made  to  massacre  the 
Manchus  on  the  occasion  of  the  New  Year's  Festival.  This 
is  the  grand  religious  and  social  ceremony  of  the  Chinese. 
It  takes  place  on  the  first  day  of  the  first  moon,  which  falls 
in  our  month  of  February.  All  business  is  stopped,  the  tri- 
bunals are  closed  for  ten  days,  and  a  state  of  high  festival 
resembling  the  Carnival  prevails.  The  conspirators  resolved 
to  take  advantage  of  this  public  holiday,  and  of  the  excite- 
ment accompanying  it,  to  carry  out  their  scheme,  and  the 
Manchus  appear  to  have  been  in  total  ignorance  until  the 
eleventh  hour  of  the  plot  for  their  destruction.  The  discov- 
ery of  the  conspiracy  bears  a  close  resemblance  to  that  of  the 
Gunpowder  Plot.  A  Chinese  slave,  wishing  to  save  his  mas- 
ter, gave  him  notice  of  the  danger,  and  this  Manchu  officer 
at  once  informed  Kanghi  of  the  conspiracy.  The  son  of  "Wou 
Sankwei  and  the  other  conspirators  were  immediately  arrested 
and  executed  without  delay.     The  Manchus  thus  escaped  by 


200  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

the  merest  accident  from  a  danger  which  threatened  them 
with  annihilation,  and  Kanghi,  having  succeeded  in  getting 
rid  of  the  son,  concentrated  his  power  and  attention  on  the 
more  difficult  task  of  grappling  with  the  father. 

But  the  power  and  reputation  of  "Wou  Sankwei  were  so 
formidable  that  Kanghi  resolved  to  proceed  with  great  cau- 
tion, and  the  emperor  began  his  measures  of  offense  by  issu- 
ing an  edict  ordering  the  disbandment  of  all  the  native 
armies  maintained  by  the  Chinese  viceroys,  besides  Wou 
Sankwei.  The  object  of  this  edict  was  to  make  all  the 
governors  of  Chinese  race  show  their  hands,  and  Kanghi 
learned  the  full  measure  of  the  hostility  he  had  to  cope  with 
by  every  governor  from  the  sea  coast  of  Fuhkien  to  Canton 
defying  him,  and  throwing  in  their  lot  with  Wou  Sankwei. 
The  piratical  confederacy  of  Formosa,  where  Ching,  the  son 
of  Koshinga,  had  succeeded  to  his  authority,  also  joined  in 
with  what  may  be  called  the  national  party,  but  its  alliance 
proved  of  little  value,  as  Ching,  at  an  early  period,  took 
umbrage  at  his  reception  by  a  Chinese  official,  and  returned 
to  his  island  home.  But  the  most  formidable  danger  to  the 
young  Manchu  ruler  came  from  an  unexpected  quarter. 
The  Mongols^  seeing  his  embarrassment  and  believing  that 
the  hours  of  the  dynasty  were,  numbered,  resolved  to  take 
advantage  of  the  occasion  to  push  their  claims.  Satchar, 
chief  of  one  of  the  Banners,  issued  a  proclamation,  calling 
his  race  to  his  side,  and  declaring  his  intention  to  invade 
China  at  the  head  of  100,000  men.  It  seemed  hardly  possible 
for  Kanghi  to  extricate  himself  from  his  many  dangers. 
With  great  quickness  of  perception  Kanghi  saw  that  the 
most  pressing  danger  was  that  from  the  Mongols,  and  he 
sent  the  whole  of  his  northern  garrisons  to  attack  Satchar 
before  the  Mongol  clans  could  have  gathered  to  his  assistr 
ance.  The  Manchu  cavalry,  by  a  rapid  march,  surprised 
Satchar  in  his  camp  and  carried  him  and  his  family  off  as 
prisoners  to  Pekin.  The  capture  of  their  chief  discouraged 
the  Mongols  and  interrupted  their  plans  for  invading  China. 
Kanghi  thus  obtained  a  respite  from  what  seemed  his  great- 


THE   FIRST  MANCHU  RULER.  201 

est  peril.  Then  he  turned  his  attention  to  dealing  with  "Wou 
Sankwei,  and  the  first  effort  of  his  armies  resulted  in  the 
recovery  of  Fuhkien,  where  the  governor  and  Ching  had 
reduced  themselves  to  a  state  of  exhaustion  by  a  contest 
inspired  by  personal  jealousy  not  patriotism.  From  Fuhkien 
his  successful  lieutenants  passed  into  Kwantung,  and  the 
Chinese,  seeing  that  the  Manchus  were  not  sunk  as  low  as 
had  been  thought,  abandoned  all  resistance,  and  again  rec- 
ognized the  Tartar  authority.  The  Manchus  did  not  dare 
to  punish  the  rebels  except  in  rare  instances,  and,  therefore, 
the  recovery  of  Canton  was  unaccompanied  by  any  scenes 
of  blood.  But  a  garrison  of  Manchus  was  placed  in  each 
town  of  importance,  and  it  was  by  Kanghi's  order  that  a 
walled  town,  or  "Tartar  city,"  was  built  within  each  city 
for  the  accommodation  and  security  of  the  dominant  race. 

But  notwithstanding  these  successes  Kanghi  made  little 
or  no  progress  against  the  main  force  of  "Wou  Sankwei, 
whose  supremacy  was  undisputed  throughout  the  whole  of 
southwest  China.  It  was  not  until  1677  that  Kanghi  ven- 
tured to  move  his  armies  against  Wou  Sankwei  in  person. 
Although  he  obtained  no  signal  success  in  the  field,  the 
divisions  among  the  Chinese  commanders  were  such  that 
he  had  the  satisfaction  of  compelling  them  to  evacuate 
Hunan,  and  when  Wou  Sankwei  took  his  first  step  back- 
ward the  sun  of  his  fortunes  began  to  set.  Calamity  rapidly 
followed  calamity.  Wou  Sankwei  had  not  known  the  mean- 
ing of  defeat  in  his  long  career  of  fifty  years,  but  now,  in  his 
old  age,  he  saw  his  affairs  in  inextricable  confusion.  His 
adherents  deserted  him,  many  rebel  officers  sought  to  come 
to  terms  with  the  Manchus,  and  Kanghi's  armies  gradually 
converged  on  Wou  Sankwei  from  the  east  and  the  north. 
Driven  out  of  Szchuen,  Wou  Sankwei  endeavored  to  make  a 
stand  in  Yunnan.  He  certainly  succeeded  in  prolonging  the 
struggle  down  to  the  year  1679,  when  his  death  put  a  sudden 
end  to  the  contest,  and  relieved  Kanghi  from  much  anxiety ; 
for  although  the  success  of  the  Manchus  was  no  longer  un- 
certain, the  military  skill  of  the  old  Chinese  warrior  might 


202  A   SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

have  indefinitely  prolonged  the  war.  Wou  Sankwei  was 
one  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  attractive  figures  to  be  met 
with  in  the  long  course  of  Chinese  history,  and  his  career 
covered  one  of  the  most  critical  periods  in  the  modern  exist- 
ence of  that  empire.  From  the  time  of  his  first  distinguish- 
ing himself  in  the  defense  of  Ningyuen  until  he  died,  half  a 
century  later,  as  Prince  of  Yunnan,  he  occupied  the  very 
foremost  place  in  the  minds  of  his  fellow-countrymen.  The 
part  he  had  taken,  first  in  keeping  out  the  Manchus,  and 
then  in  introducing  them  into  the  state,  reflected  equal  credit 
on  his  ability  and  his  patriotism.  In  requesting  the  Manchus 
to  crush  the  robber  Li  and  to  take  the  throne  which  the  fall 
of  the  Mings  had  rendered  vacant,  he  was  actuated  by  the 
purest  motives.  There  was  only  a  choice  of  evils,  and  he 
selected  that  which  seemed  the  less.  He  gave  the  empire 
to  a  foreign  ruler  of  intelligence,  but  he  saved  it  from  an 
unscrupulous  robber.  He  played  the  part  of  king-maker 
to  the  family  of  Nborhachu,  and  the  magnitude  of  their 
obligations  to  him  could  not  be  denied.  They  were  not  as 
grateful  as  he  may  have  expected,,  and  they  looked  askance 
at  his  military  power  and  influence  over  his  countrymen. 
Probably  he  felt  that  he  had  not  been  well  treated,  and 
chagrin  undoubtedly  induced  him  to  reject  Kanghi's  request 
to  proceed  to  Pekin.  If  he  had  only  acceeded  to  that  arrange- 
ment he  would  have  left  a  name  for  conspicuous  loyalty  and 
political  consistency  in  the  service  of  the  great  race,  which 
he  had  been  mainly  instrumental  in  placing  over  China. 
But  even  as  events  turned  out  he  was  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable personages  the  Chinese  race  ever  produced,  and 
his  military  career  shows  that  they  are  capable  of  producing 
great  generals  and  brave  soldiers. 

The  death  of  Wou  Sankwei  signified  the  overthrow  of 
the  Chinese  uprising  which  had  threatened  to  extinguish  the 
still  growing  power  of  the  Manchu  under  its  youthful  Em- 
peror Kanghi.  Wou  Shufan,  the  grandson  of  that  prince, 
endeavored  to  carry  on  the  task  of  holding  Yunnan  as  an 
independent  territory,  but  by  the  year  1681   his  possessions 


THE    FIRST   MANCHU   RULER.  203 

were  reduced  to  the  town  of  Yunnanfoo,  where  he  was 
closely  besieged  by  the  Manchu  forces.  Although  the  Chi- 
nese fought  valiantly,  they  were  soon  reduced  to  extremities, 
and  the  Manchus  carried  the  place  by  storm.  The  garrison 
were  massacred  to  the  last  man,  and  Wou  Shufan  only 
avoided  a  worse  fate  by  committing  suicide.  The  Manchus, 
not  satisfied  with  his  death,  sent  his  head  to  Pekin  to  be 
placed  on  its  principal  gate  in  triumph,  and  the  body  of  Wou 
Sankwei  himself  was  exhumed  so  that  his  ashes  might  be 
scattered  in  each  of  the  eighteen  provinces  of  China  as  a 
warning  to  traitors.  Having  crushed  their  most  redoubtable 
antagonist,  the  Manchus  resorted  to  more  severe  measures 
against  those  who  had  surrendered  in  Fuhkien  and  Kwan- 
tung,  and  many  insurgent  chiefs  who  had  surrendered,  and 
enjoyed  a  brief  respite,  ended  their  lives  under  the  knife 
of  the  executioner.  The  Manchu  soldiers  are  said  to  have 
been  given  spoil  to  the  extent  of  nearly  ten  million  dollars, 
and  the  war  which  witnessed  the  final  assertion  of  Manchu 
power  over  the  Chinese  was  essentially  popular  with  the  sol- 
diers who  carried  it  on  to  a  victorious  conclusion.  A  very 
short  time  after  the  final  overthrow  of  "Wou  Sankwei  and  his 
family,  the  Chinese  regime  in  Formosa  was  brought  to  an 
end.  Kanghi,  having  collected  a  fleet,  and  concluded  a 
convention  with  the  Dutch,  determined  on  the  invasion  and 
conquest  of  Formosa.  In  the  midst  of  these  preparations 
Ching,  the  son  of  Koshinga,  died,  and  no  doubt  the  plans 
of  Kanghi  were  facilitated  by  the  confusion  that  followed. 
The  Manchu  fleet  seized  Ponghu,  the  principal  island  of  the 
Pescadore  group,  and  thence  the  Manchus  threw  a  force  into 
Formosa.  It  is  said  that  they  were  helped  by  a  high  tide, 
and  by  the  superstition  of  the  islanders,  who  exclaimed,  "The 
first  Wang  (Koshinga)  got  possession  of  Taiwan  by  a  high 
tide.  The  fleet  now  comes  in  the  same  manner.  It  is  the 
will  of  Heaven."  Formosa  accepted  the  supremacy  of  the 
Manchus  without  further  ado.  Those  of  the  islanders  who 
had  ever  recognized  the  authority  of  any  government,  ac- 
cepted that  of  the  Emperor  Kanghi,  shaved  their  heads  in 


204  A   SHORT  HISTORY    OF    CHINA. 

token  of   submission,  and  became  so  far  as  in  them   lay 
respectable  citizens. 

The  overthrow  of  Wou  Sankwei  and  the  conquest  of 
Formosa  completed  what  may  be  called  the  pacification 
of  China  by  the  Manchus.  From  that  period  to  the  Taeping 
Rebellion,  or  for  nearly  200  years,  there  was  no  internal 
insurrection  on  a  large  scale.  On  the  whole  the  Manchus 
stained  their  conclusive  triumph  by  few  excesses,  and 
Kanghi's  moderation  was  scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  his 
father,  Chuntche.  The  family  of  Wou  Sankwei  seems  to 
have  been  rooted  out  more  for  the  personal  attempt  of  the 
son  at  Pekin  than  for  the  bold  ambition  of  the  potentate 
himself.  The  family  of  Koshinga  was  spared,  and  its  prin- 
cipal representative  received  the  patent  of  an  earl.  Thus, 
by  a  policy  judiciously  combined  of  severity  and  moderation, 
did  Kanghi  make  himself  supreme,  and  complete  the  work 
of  his  race.  Whatever  troubles  may  have  beset  the  govern- 
ment in  the  last  220  years,  it  will  be  justifiable  to  speak  of  the 
Manchus  and  the  Tatsing  dynasty  as  the  legitimate  author- 
ities in  China,  and,  instead  of  foreign  adventurers,  as  the 
national  and  recognized  rulers  of  the  Middle  Kingdom. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    EMPEROR    KANGHI 

Among  the  Mongol  tribes  the  noblest  at  this  period  were 
the  Khalkas.  They  prided  themselves  on  being  the  descend- 
ants of  the  House  of  Genghis,  the  representatives  of  the 
special  clan  of  the  great  conqueror,  and  the  occupants  of 
the  original  home  in  the  valleys  of  the  Onon  and  Kerulon. 
Although  their  military  power  was  slight,  the  name  of  the 
Khalka  princes  stood  high  among  the  Mongol  tribes,  and 
they  exercised  an  influence  far  in  excess  of  their  numbers  or 
capacity  as  a  fighting  force.  Kanghi  determined  to  establish 
friendly  relations  with    this  clan,   and  by  the  dispatch  of 


THE   EMPEROR    KANGHI.  205 

friendly  letters  and  costly  presents  he  succeeded  in  inducing 
the  Khalka  chiefs  to  enter  into  formal  alliance  with  himself, 
and  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  amity  with  China,  which,  be  it 
noted,  they  faithfully  observed.  Kanghi's  efforts  in  this 
direction,  which  may  have  been  dictated  by  apprehension 
at  the  movements  of  his  new  neighbors,  the  Russians,  were 
thus  crowned  with  success,  and  the  adhesion  of  the  Khalkas 
signified  that  the  great  majority  of  the  Mongols  would  thence- 
forth abstain  from  acts  of  unprovoked  aggression  on  the 
Chinese  frontier.  But  the  advance  of  China  and  her  influ- 
ence, even  in  the  form  of  paying  homage  to  the  emperor  as 
the  Bogdo  Khan,  or  the  Celestial  Ruler,  so  far  west  as  the 
upper  course  of  the  Amour,  involved  the  Pekin  Government 
in  fresh  complications  by  bringing  it  into  contact  with  tribes 
and  peoples  of  whom  it  had  no  cognizance.  Beyond  the 
Khalkas  were  the  Eleuths,  supreme  in  Hi  and  Kashgaria, 
and  divided  into  four  hordes,  who  obeyed  as  many  chiefs. 
They  had  had  some  relations  with  the  Khalkas,  but  of  China 
they  knew  nothing  more  than  the  greatness  of  her  name 
When  the  surrender  of  the  Khalka  princes  became  known 
the  Eleuth  chiefs  held  a  grand  assembly  or  kuriltai,  and  at 
this  it  was  finally,  and,  indeed,  ostentatiously,  decided  not 
to  yield  Kanghi  his  demands.  Important  as  this  decision 
was,  it  derived  increased  weight  from  the  character  of  the 
man  who  was  mainly  instrumental  in  inducing  the  Eleuths 
to  take  it. 

Much  has  been  written  of  the  desert  chiefs  from  Yenta 
to  Yakoob  Beg,  but  none  of  these  showed  greater  ability  or 
attained  more  conspicuous  success  than  Galdan,  who  strained 
the  power  of  China,  and  fought  for  many  years  on  equal 
terms  with  the  Emperor  Kanghi.  Galdan  determined  that 
the  easiest  and  most  advantageous  beginning  for  his  enter- 
prise would  be  to  attack  his  neighbors  the  Khalkas,  who,  by 
accepting  Kanghi's  offers,  had  made  themselves  the  advanced 
guard  of  China  in  Central  Asia.  He  began  a  systematic 
encroachment  into  their  lands  in  the  year  1679,  but  at  the 
same  time  he  resorted  to  every  device  to  screen  his  move- 


Z06  A    SHORT    HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

ments  from  the  Chinese  court,  and  such  was  the  delay  in 
receiving  intelligence,  and  the  ignorance  of  the  situation 
beyond  the  border,  that  in  the  very  year  of  his  beginning  to 
attack  the  Khalkas,  his  envoy  at  Pekin  received  a  nattering 
reception  at  the  hands  of  Kanghi,  still  hopeful  of  a  peaceful 
settlement,  and  returned  with  the  seal  and  patent  of  a  Khan. 
Events  had  not  reached  a  state  of  open  hostility  three  years 
later,  when  Kanghi  sent  special  envoys  to  the  camp  of 
Galdan,  as  well  as  to  the  Khalkas.  They  were  instructed 
to  promise  and  pay  much,  but  to  rest  content  with  nothing 
short  of  the  formal  acceptance  by  all  the  chiefs  of  the 
supremacy  of  China.  Galdan,  bound  by  the  laws  of  hos- 
pitality, nowhere  more  sacred  than  in  the  East,  gave  them 
an  honorable  reception,  and  lavished  upon  them  the  poor 
resources  he  commanded.  In  hyperbolic  terms  he  declared 
that  the  arrival  of  an  embassy  from  the  rich  and  powerful 
Chinese  emperor  in  his  poor  State  would  be  handed  down  as 
the  most  glorious  event  of  his  reign.  But  he  refused  to 
make  any  tender  of  allegiance,  or  to  subscribe  himself  as  a 
Chinese  vassal.  The  dissensions  among  the  Khalka  princes 
assisted  the  development  of  Galdan's  ambition,  and  added 
to  the  anxiety  of  the  Chinese  ruler.  Kanghi  admonished 
them  to  heal  their  differences  and  to  abstain  from  an  inter- 
necine strife,  which  would  only  facilitate  their  conquest  by 
&aldan,  and  he  succeeded  so  far  that  he  induced  them  to 
swear  a  peace  among  themselves  before  an  image  of  Buddha. 
At  this  juncture  the  Chinese  came  into  collision  with  the 
Russians  on  the  Amour.  The  Russians  had  built  a  fort  at 
Albazin,  on  the  upper  course  of  that  river,  and  the  Chinese 
army  located  in  the  Khalka  country,  considering  its  proximity 
a  menace  to  their  own  security,  attacked  it  in  overwhelming 
force.  Albazin  was  taken,  and  those  of  the  garrison  who 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  were  carried  off  to  Pekin, 
where  their  descendants  still  reside  as  a  distinct  Russian 
colony.  But  when  the  Chinese  evacuated  Albazin  the  Rus- 
sians returned  there  with  characteristic  obstinacy,  and 
Kanghi,    becoming    anxious   at  the  increasing  activity  of 


THE    EMPEROR    KANQHI.  207 

Galdan,  accepted  the  overtures  of  the  Russian  authorities 
in  Siberia,  who,  in  1688,  sent  the  son  of  the  Governor-gen- 
eral of  Eastern  Siberia  to  Pekin  to  negotiate  a  peace.  After 
twelve  months'  negotiation,  protracted  by  the  outbreak  of 
war  with  Galdan,  the  Treaty  of  Nerchinsk,  the  first  con- 
cluded between  China  and  any  European  power,  was  signed, 
and  the  brief  and  only  war  between  Russia  and  China  was 
thus  brought  to  a  speedy  and  satisfactory  termination.  The 
Russians  agreed  to  the  destruction  of  Fort  Albazin,  but  they 
were  allowed  to  build  another  at  Nerchinsk. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Galdan  thought  that  he 
might  derive  some  advantage  from  the  complications  with 
Russia,  for  his  military  movements  were  hastened  when  he 
heard  that  the  two  powers  were  embroiled  on  the  Amour, 
and  he  proclaimed  his  intention  of  invading  the  Khalka  re- 
gion, because  some  of  their  people  had  murdered  his  kins- 
men. Galdan  endeavored  to  conclude  an  alliance  with  the 
Russians,  who  sent  an  officer  to  his  camp;  but  they  soon 
came  to  the  determination  that  it  would  be  more  advanta- 
geous to  keep  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Chinese  than  to  em- 
bark on  a  hazardous  adventure  with  the  chief  of  an  Asiatic 
horde.  The  mere  rumor  of  a  possible  alliance  between  Gal- 
dan and  the  Russians  roused  Kanghi  to  increased  activity, 
and  all  the  picked  troops  of  the  Eight  Manchu  Banners,  the 
Forty-nine  Mongol  Banners,  and  the  Chinese  auxiliaries, 
were  dispatched  across  the  steppe  to  bring  the  Napoleon  of 
Central  Asia  to  reason.  In  face  of  this  formidable  danger 
Galdan  showed  undiminished  courage  and  energy.  Realiz- 
ing the  peril  of  inaction,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  assume  the 
offensive,  and  the  war  began  with  a  victory  he  gained  over 
a  general  named  Horni,  within  the  limits  of  Chinese  terri- 
tory. The  moral  of  this  success  was  that  it  showed  that 
Kanghi  had  not  decided  a  moment  too  soon  in  resorting  to 
extreme  measures  against  the  ambitious  potentate  who  found 
the  Gobi  Desert  and  the  surrounding  region  too  circumscribed 
for  his  ambition. 

Kanghi  intrusted  the  chief  command  of  his  armies  to  his 


208  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

brother,  Yu  Tsing  Wang,  who  justified  his  appointment  by 
bringing  the  Eleuth  forces  speedily  to  an  engagement,  and 
by  gaining  a  more  or  less  decisive  victory  over  them  at  Oulan 
Poutong.  The  loss  was  considerable  on  both  sides,  among 
the  imperial  officers  killed  being  an  uncle  of  the  emperor; 
but  Galdan's  forces  suffered  a  great  deal  more  during  the 
retreat  than  they  had  done  in  the  action.  After  this  disas- 
ter Galdan  signed  a  treaty  with  the  Chinese  commander, 
Yu  Tsing  Wang.  At  first  he  attempted  to  gain  an  advan- 
tage by  excluding  his  personal  enemies,  the  Khalkas,  from 
it,  but  the  Chinese  were  not  to  be  entrapped  into  any  such 
arrangement,  and,  standing  up  for  their  dependents,  the 
provisions  of  the  treaty  provided  equally  for  their  safety 
and  for  the  acceptance  by  Galdan  of  the  supremacy  of 
China.  This  new  arrangement  or  treaty  was  concluded  in 
1690,  but  Kanghi  himself  seems  to  have  placed  no  great 
faith  in  the  sincerity  of  Galdan,  and  to  have  regarded  it 
merely  as  a  truce.  This  view  was  soon  found  to  be  correct, 
for  neither  side  laid  aside  their  arms,  and  the  unusual  vigi- 
lance of  the  Chinese  gave  Galdan  additional  cause  for  um- 
brage. Kanghi  showed  that  he  was  resolved  not  to  let  the 
terms,  to  which  Galdan  had  subscribed,  become  a  dead  let- 
ter. He  summoned  a  great  assemblage  of  the  Khalka  tribes 
on  the  plain  of  Dolonor — the  Seven  Springs  near  Changtu — 
and  he  attended  it  in  person,  bestowing  gifts  and  titles  with 
a  lavish  hand..  Kanghi  was  thus  able  to  convince  himself 
that,  so  far  as  the  Mongol  tribes  were  concerned,  he  might 
count  on  their  loyalty  and  support.  He  then  began  to  estab- 
lish an  understanding  with  Tse  Wang  Rabdan,  and  thus  ob- 
tain an  ally  in  the  rear  of  Galdan.  This  latter  circumstance 
was  the  direct  cause  of  the  second  war  with  Galdan,  for 
Kanghi's  embassador  was  waylaid  and  murdered  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Hami.  The  outrage  for  which,  whether 
he  inspired  it  or  not,  Galdan  was  held  blameworthy,  aroused 
the  strongest  resentment  and  anger  of  Kanghi. 

Kanghi  made  extraordinary  preparations  for  the  cam- 
paign.    He  placed  four  armies  in  the  field  numbering  about 


THE    EMPEROR    KANGHI.  209 

150,000  combatants,  and  it  has  been  computed  that,  with 
non-combatants,  the  total  of  men  employed  did  not  fall 
short  of  a  million.  The  first  of  these  armies  numbered 
35,600  men,  and  was  intrusted  to  Feyanku,  the  Ney  of  the 
Manchu  army.  Kanghi  took  personal  command  of  the  sec- 
ond, and  its  strength  is  given  at  37,700  men;  and  the  third 
army,  35,400  men,  was  plaed  under  the  orders  of  Sapsu. 
The  fourth,  of  unstated  but  greatest  numerical  strength, 
acted  as  the  reserve  force  for  the  others,  and  did  not,  prop- 
erly speaking,  come  into  action  at  all.  In  order  to  render 
the  war  popular  Kanghi  offered  special  pay  to  the  soldiers, 
and  undertook  to  provide  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of 
those  slain.  At  the  same  time  Kanghi  neglected  no  precau- 
tion to  insure  the  success  of  his  arms.  He  provided  cotton 
armor  which  was  proof  to  the  bullet  for  his  cavalry  and 
part  of  his  infantry,  and  he  organized  a  corps  of  artillerists 
mounted  on  camels,  which  also  carried  the  light  pieces,  and 
rendered  good  service  as  "flying  artillery."  Before  setting 
out  for  the  campaign,  the  emperor  reviewed  his  army,  and 
he  chose  for  the  occasion  the  date  of  the  popular  Feast  of 
Lanterns,  when  all  China  takes  a  holiday.  After  the  in- 
spection of  the  numerous  and  well  equipped  army  an  im- 
pressive ceremony  took  place.  Feyanku  approached  his 
sovereign,  and  received  at  his  hands  a  cup  of  wine,  which 
the  general  took  while  on  his  knees,  and  which,  on  descend- 
ing from  the  steps  of  the  throne,  he  quaffed  in  full  view  of 
the  spectators.  Each  of  his  assistant  generals  and  the  sub- 
ordinate officers  in  groups  of  ten  went  through  the  same 
ceremony,  and  the  ruin  of  Galdan  was  anticipated  in  the 
libations  of  his  conquerors.  While  Feyanku  marched  to  en- 
counter Galdan  wherever  he  should  find  him,  the  ministers 
and  courtiers  at  Pekin  made  a  strenuous  effort  to  prevent 
Kanghi  taking  the  field  in  person,  expatiating  on  the  dan- 
gers of  a  war  in  the  desert,  and  of  the  loss  to  the  empire  if 
anything  happened  to  him.  But  Kanghi,  while  thanking 
them  for  their  solicitude,  was  not  to  be  deterred  from  his 
purpose.     He  led  his  army  by  a  parallel  route  to  that  pur- 


210  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

sued  by  Feyanku  across  the  Gobi  Desert  to  Kobdo,  where 
Galdan  had  established  his  headquarters.  The  details  of 
the  march  are  fully  described  by  the  Roman  Catholic  priest, 
Gerbillon,  in  his  interesting  narrative.  They  reveal  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  enterprise  as  well  as  its  success.  Some  detach- 
ments of  the  Chinese  army  were  compelled  to  beat  a  retreat, 
but  the  main  body  succeeded  in  making  its  way  to  the  valley 
of  the  Kerulon,  where  some  supplies  could  be  obtained.  Fe- 
yanku's  corps,  when  it  reached  the  neighborhood  of  the  mod- 
ern Ourga,  was  reduced  to  an  effective  strength  of  10,000 
men,  and  of  Sapsu's  army  only  2,000  ever  reached  the  scene 
of  operations,  and  they  formed  a  junction  with  the  force 
under  Feyanku.  But  Galdan  did  not  possess  the  military 
strength  to  take  any  advantage  of  the  enfeebled  state  in 
which  the  Chinese  armies  reached  his  neighborhood.  He 
abandoned  camp  after  camp,  and  sought  to  make  good  his 
position  by  establishing  an  empty  alliance  with  the  Russians 
in  Siberia,  from  whom  he  asked  60,000  troops  to  consum- 
mate the  conquest  of  China.  Such  visionary  projects  as  this 
provided  a  poor  defense  against  the  active  operations  of  a 
Chinese  army  in  his  own  country.  In  a  fit  bordering  on 
desperation  Galdan  suddenly  determined  to  risk  an  attack 
on  the  camp  of  Feyanku  at  Chowmodo.  That  general,  less 
fortunate  than  his  sovereign,  had  been  reduced  to  the  verge 
of  distress  by  the  exhaustion  of  his  supplies,  and  was  even 
meditating  a  retreat  back  to  China,  when  the  action  of  Gal- 
dan relieved  him  from  his  dilemma.  The  exact  course  of 
the  battle  at  Qhowmodo  is  not  described  in  any  authentic 
document.  During  three  hours  Feyanku  stood  on  the  de- 
fensive, but  when  he  gave  the  order  for  attack,  the  Eleuths 
broke  in  confusion  before  the  charge  of  his  cavalry.  Two 
thousand  of  their  best  warriors  were  slain,  their  organization 
was  shattered,  and  Galdan  became  a  fugitive  in  the  region 
where  he  had  posed  as  undisputed  master.  This  victory  un- 
doubtedly relieved  the  Chinese  from  serious  embarrassment, 
and  Kanghi  felt  able  to  return  to  Pekin,  leaving  the  further 
conduct  of  the  war  and  the  pursuit  of  Galdan  in  the  hands 


THE    EMPEROR    KANGHI.  211 

of  Feyanku.  Formidable  enemy  as  Galdan  had  proved  him- 
self, the  defeat  at  Chowmodo  put  an  end  to  his  career,  and 
destroyed  all  his  schemes  of  greatness.  The  Chinese  pur- 
sued him  with  great  persistence,  and  at  last  he  died  in  1697, 
either  of  his  deprivations  or  by  the  act  of  his  own  hand. 
With  Galdan  disappeared  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
desert  chiefs;  but,  although  Kanghi  flattered  himself  that 
such  would  be  the  case,  peace  did  not  settle  down  on  Cen- 
tral Asia  as  the  consequence  of  the  death  of  his  active  and 
enterprising  antagonist.  The  Chinese  armies  were  recalled 
for  this  occasion,  and  the  only  force  left  on  the  remote  fron- 
tier was  a  small  one  under  the  command  of  the  gallant 
Feyanku. 

The  overthrow  and  death  of  Galdan  brought  Tse  "Wang 
Rabdan  into  direct  contact  with  the  Chinese.  He  had  from 
his  hostile  relations  with  Galdan — the  murderer  of  his  father 
Tsenka — acted  as  the  ally,  of  Kanghi,  but  when  he  became 
the  chief  of  the  Eleuths  on  the  death  of  his  uncle,  his  ideas 
underwent  a  change,  and  he  thought  more  of  his  dignity 
and  independence.  No  rupture  might  have  taken  place,  but 
that  the  Chinese,  in  their  implacable  resolve  to  exterminate 
the  family  of  their  enemy  Galdan,  demanded  from  Tse  Wang 
Rabdan  not  only  the  bones  of  that  chieftain,  but  also  the 
persons  of  his  son  and  daughter,  who  had  taken  refuge  with 
him.  Tse  Wang  Rabdan  resented  both  the  demand  itself 
and  the  language  in  which  it  was  expressed.  He  evaded 
the  requests  sent  by  Feyanku,  and  he  addressed  a  letter  of 
remonstrance  to  Kanghi,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said, 
"The  war  being  now  concluded,  past  injuries  ought  to  be 
buried  in  oblivion.  Pity  should  be  shown  to  the  vanquished, 
and  it  would  be  barbarous  to  think  of  nothing  but  of  how  to 
overwhelm  them.  It  is  the  first  law  inspired  by  humanity, 
and  one  which  custom  has  consecrated  from  the  earliest  pe- 
riod among  us  who  are  Eleuths."  Kanghi,  undeterred  by 
this  homily,  continued  to  press  his  demand,  and  sent  several 
missions  to  the  Eleuth  camp  to  obtain  the  surrender  of  Gal- 
dan's  remains  and  relations.     His  pertinacity  was  at  last 


212  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

rewarded,  and  the  bones  of  his  old  opponent  were  surren- 
dered to  be  scattered  as  those  of  a  traitor  throughout  China, 
and  his  son  was  sent  to  Pekin,  where,  however,  he  received 
an  honorable  appointment  in  lieu  of  being  handed  over  to 
the  public  executioner.  Although  Tse  Wang  Rabdan  at 
last  conceded  to  Kanghi  what  he  demanded,  his  general 
action  soon  marked  him  out  as  the  antagonist  of  the  Chinese 
in  Central  Asia.  He  first  vanquished  in  battle,  and  then 
established  an  alliance  with  the  Kirghiz,  and  thus  his  mili- 
tary forces  were  recruited  from  the  whole  of  the  vast  terri- 
tory from  Hami  on  the  east  to  Khokand  on  the  west.( 

The  main  object  of  his  policy  was  to  assert  his  influence 
and  authority  in  Tibet,  and  to  make  the  ruling  lama  at 
Lhasa  accept  whatever  course  he  might  dictate  for  him. 
Galdan  had  at  one  time  entertained  the  same  idea;  but 
probably  because  he  had  not  as  good  means  of  access  into 
the  country  as  Tse  Wang  Rabdan  had,  on  account  of  his 
possession  of  Khoten,  it  lay  dormant  until  it  was  dispelled 
by  the  rupture  after  his  adoption  of  Mohammedanism.  Up 
to  this  time  China  had  been  content  with  a  very  shadowy 
hold  on  Tibet,  and  she  had  no  resident  representative  at 
Lhasa.  But  Kanghi,  convinced  of  the  importance  of  main- 
taining his  supremacy  in  Tibet,  took  energetic  measures  to 
counteract  the  Eleuth  intrigues,  and  for  a  time  there  was  a 
keen  diplomatic  struggle  between  the  contending  potentates. 
From  an  early  period  the  supremacy  in  the  Tibetan  admin- 
istration had  been  disputed  between  two  different  classes, 
the  one  which  represented  the  military  body  making  use  of 
religious  matters  to  forward  its  designs,  the  other  being  an 
order  of  priests  supported  by  the  unquestioning  faith  and 
confidence  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  former  became 
known  as  Red  Caps  and  the  latter  as  Yellow  Caps.  The 
rivalry  between  these  classes  had  been  keen  before,  and  was 
still  bitterly  contested  when  Chuntche  first  ascended  the 
throne;  but  victory  had  finally  inclined  to  the  side  of  the 
Yellow  Caps  before  the  fall  of  Galdan.  The  Dalai  Lama 
was  their  great  spiritual  head,  and  his  triumph  had  been 


THE   EMPEROR    KANGHI.  213 

assisted  by  the  intervention  and  influence  of  the  Manchu 
emperor.  The  Red  Caps  were  driven  out  of  the  country 
into  Bhutan,  where  they  still  hold  sway.  After  this  suc- 
cess a  new  functionary,  with  both  civil  and  military  author- 
ity, was  appointed  to  carry  on  the  administration,  under  the 
orders  of  the  Dalai  Lama,  who  was  supposed  to  be  lost  in 
his  spiritual  speculations  and  religious  devotions.  This  func- 
tionary received  the  name  of  the  Tipa,  and,  encouraged  by 
the  little  control  exercised  over  his  acts,  he  soon  began  to 
carry  on  intrigues  for  the  elevation  of  his  own  power  at  the 
expense  of  that  of  his  priestly  superiors.  The  ambition  of 
one  Tipa  led  to  his  fall  and  execution,  but  the  offense  was 
attributed  to  the  individual,  and  a  new  one  was  appointed. 
This  second  Tipa  was  the  reputed  son  of  a  Dalai  Lama,  and 
when  his  father  died  in  1682  he  kept  the  fact  of  his  death 
secret,  giving  out  that  he  had  only  retired  into  the  recesses 
of  the  palace,  and  ruled  the  state  in  his  name  for  the  space 
of  sixteen  years.  The  Tipa  well  knew  that  he  could  not 
hope  to  obtain  the  approval  of  Kanghi  for  what  he  had  done, 
and  he  had  made  overtures  to  the  princes  of  Jungaria  for 
protection,  whenever  he  might  require  it,  against  the  Chi- 
nese emperor.  At  last  the  truth  was  divulged,  and  Kanghi 
was  most  indignant  at  having  been  duped,  and  threatened 
to  send  an  army  to  punish  the  Tipa  for  his  crime.  Then  the 
Tipa  selected  a  new  Dalai  Lama,  and  endeavored  to  appease 
Kanghi,  but  his  choice  proved  unfortunate  because  it  did 
not  satisfy  the  Tibetans.  His  own  general,  Latsan  Khan, 
made  himself  the  executor  of  public  opinion.  The  Tipa  was 
slain  with  most  of  his  supporters,  and  the  boy  Dalai  Lama 
shared  the  same  fate.  These  occurrences  did  not  insure  the 
tranquillity  of  the  state,  for  when  another  Dalai  Lama  was 
found,  the  selection  was  not  agreeable  to  Latsan  Khan,  and 
his  friends  had  to  convey  the  youth  for  safety  to  Sining,  in 
China. 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  Tse  Wang  Rabdan  determined 
to  interfere  in  Tibet,  and,  strangely  enough,  instead  of  at- 
tempting to  make  Latsan  Khan  his  friend,  he  at  once  resolved 


214  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

to  treat  him  as  an  enemy,  throwing  his  son,  who  happened 
to  be  at  Hi,  into  prison.  He  then  dispatched  an  army  into 
Tibet  to  crush  Latsan  Khan,  and  at  the  same  time  he  sent  a 
force  against  Sining  in  the  hope  of  gaining  possession  of  the 
person  of  the  young  Dalai  Lama.  The  Eleuth  army  quitted 
the  banks  of  the  Hi  in  1709,  under  the  command  of  Zeren 
Donduk,  and  having  crossed  Eastern  Turkestan  appeared  in 
due  course  before  Lhasa.  It  met  with  little  or  no  resistance. 
Latsan  Khan  was  slain,  and  the  Eleuth  army  collected  an 
incalculable  quantity  of  spoil,  with  which  it  returned  to  the 
banks  of  the  Hi.  The  expedition  against  Sining  failed,  and 
the  rapid  advance  of  a  Chinese  army  compelled  the  retreat 
of  Zeren  Donduk  without  having  attained  any  permanent 
success.  As  the  Eleuth  army  had  evacuated  Tibet  there 
was  no  object  in  sending  Chinese  troops  into  that  state,  and 
Kanghi's  generals  were  instructed  to  march  westward  from 
Hami  to  Turfan.  But  their  movements  were  marked  by 
carelessness  or  over-confidence,  and  the  Eleuths  surprised 
their  camp  and  inflicted  such  loss  upon  Kanghi's  commanders 
that  they  had  even  to  evacuate  Hami.  But  this  was  only 
a  temporary  reverse.  A  fresh  Manchu  army  soon  retrieved 
it,  and  Hami  again  became  the  bulwark  of  the  Chinese 
frontier.  At  the  same  time  Kanghi  sent  a  garrison  to  Tibet, 
and  appointed  resident  ambans  at  Lhasa,  which  officials 
China  has  retained  there  ever  since.  The  war  with  Tse 
Wang  Rabdan  was  not  ended  by  these  successes,  for  he 
resorted  to  the  hereditary  tactics  of  his  family,  retiring  when 
the  Chinese  appeared  in  force,  and  then  advancing  on  their 
retreat.  As  Kanghi  wrote,  they  are  "like  wolves  who,  at 
the  sight  of  the  huntsmen,  scatter  to  their  dens,  and  at  the 
withdrawal  of  danger  assemble  again  round  the  prey  they 
have  abandoned  with  regret.  Such  was  the  policy  of  these 
desert  robbers."  The  last  year  of  Kanghi's  reign  was  illus- 
trated by  a  more  than  usually  decisive  victory  over  the 
forces  of  Tse  Wang  Rabdan,  which  a  courtier  declared  to 
be  "equivalent  to  the  conquest  of  Tibet";  but  on  the  whole 
the  utmost  success  that  can  be  claimed  for  Kanghi's  policy 


THE   EMPEROR   KANOHL  215 

was  that  it  repelled  the  chronic  danger  from  the  desert  chiefs 
and  their  turbulent  followers  to  a  greater  distance  from  the 
immediate  frontier  of  the  empire  than  had  been  the  case  for 
many  centuries.  He  left  the  task  of  breaking  the  Eleuth 
power  to  his  grandson,  Keen  Lung. 

The  close  of  Kanghi's  reign  witnessed  a  decline  in  the 
interest  he  took  in  the  representatives  of  Europe,  and  this 
was  not  revived  by  the  splendor  of  the  embassy  which  Peter 
the  Great  sent  to  Pekin  in  1719.  The  embassy  consisted  of 
the  embassador  himself,  M.  Ismaloff;  his  secretary,  M.  de 
Lange;  the  English  traveler,  Mr.  Bell,  and  a  considerable 
suite.  Kanghi  received  in  the  most  gracious  manner  the  let- 
ter which  Peter  addressed  to  him  in  the  following  terms: 
"To  the  emperor  of  the  vast  countries  of  Asia,  to  the  Sover- 
eign Monarch  of  Bogdo,  to  the  Supreme  Majesty  of  Khitay, 
friendship  and  greeting.  With  the  design  I  possess  of  hold- 
ing and  increasing  the  friendship  and  close  relations  long 
established  between  your  Majesty  and  my  predecessors  and 
myself,  I  have  thought  it  right  to  send  to  your  court,  in  the 
capacity  of  embassador-extraordinary,  Leon  Ismaloff,  cap- 
tain in  my  guards.  I  beg  you  will  receive  him  in  a  manner 
suitable  to  the  character  in  which  he  comes,  to  have  regard 
and  to  attach  as  much  faith  to  what  he  may  say  on  the  sub- 
ject of  our  mutual  affairs  as  if  I  were  speaking  to  you  myself, 
and  also  to  permit  his  residing  at  your  Court  of  Pekin  until 
I  recall  him.  Allow  me  to  sign  myself  your  Majesty's  good 
friend,  Peter."  Kanghi  gave  the  Russian  envoy  a  very 
honorable  reception.  A  house  was  set  apart  for  his  accom- 
modation, and  when  the  difficulties  raised  by  the  mandarins 
on  the  question  of  the  kotao  ceremony  at  the  audience  threat- 
ened to  bring  the  embassy  to  an  abortive  end,  Kanghi  him- 
self intervened  with  a  suggestion  that  solved  the  difficulty. 
He  arranged  that  his  principal  minister  should  perform  the 
kotao  to  the  letter  of  the  Russian  emperor,  while  the  Russian 
envoy  rendered  him  the  same  obeisance.  The  audience  then 
took  place  without  further  delay,  and  it  was  allowed  on  all 
hands  that  no  foreign  embassy  had  ever  been  received  with 


216  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

greater  honor  in  China  than  this.  Ismaloff  returned  to  his 
master  with  the  most  roseate  account  of  his  reception  and 
of  the  opening  in  China  for  Russian  trade.  A  large  and  rich 
caravan  was  accordingly  fitted  out  by  Peter,  to  proceed  to 
Pekin ;  but  when  it  arrived  it  found  a  very  different  state 
of  affairs  from  what  Ismaloff  had  pictured.  Kanghi  lay  on 
his  death-bed,  the  anti-foreign  ministers  were  supreme,  de- 
claring that  "trade  was  a  matter  of  little  consequence,  and 
regarded  by  them  with  contempt,"  and  the  Russians  were 
ignominiously  sent  back  to  Siberia  with  the  final  declaration 
that  such  intercourse  as  was  unavoidable  must  be  restricted 
to  the  frontier.  Thus  summarily  was  ended  Peter's  dream 
of  tapping  the  wealth  of  China. 

Although  Kanglri  was  not  altogether  free  from  domestic 
trouble,  through  the  ambition  of  his  many  sons  to  succeed 
him,  his  life  must  on  the  whole  be  said  to  have  passed  along 
tranquilly  enough  apart  from  his  cares  of  state.  The  public 
acts  and  magnificent  exploits  of  his  reign  prove  him  to  have 
been  wise,  courageous,  and  magnanimous,  and  his  private 
life  will  bear  the  most  searching  examination,  and  only 
render  his  virtue  the  more  conspicuous.  He  always  showed 
a  tender  solicitude  for  the  interests  of  his  people,  which  was 
proved,  among  other  things,  by  his  giving  up  his  annual 
tours  through  his  dominions  on  account  of  the  expense  thrown 
on  his  subjects  by  the  inevitable  size  of  his  retinue.  His 
active  habits  as  a  hunter,  a  rider,  and  even  as  a  pedestrian, 
were  subjects  of  admiring  comment  on  the  part  of  the  Chi- 
nese people,  and  he  was  one  of  their  few  rulers  who  made 
it  a  habit  to  walk  through  the  streets  of  his  capital.  He 
was  also  conspicuous  as  the  patron  of  learning;  notably 
in  his  support  of  the  foreign  missionaries  as  geographers 
and  cartographers.  He  was  also  the  consistent  and  ener- 
getic supporter  of  the  celebrated  Hanlin  College,  and,  as  he 
was  no  ordinary  litterateur  himself,  this  is  not  surprising. 
His  own  works  filled  a  hundred  volumes,  prominent  among 
which  were  his  Sixteen  Maxims  on  the  Art  of  Government, 
and  it  is  believed  that  he  took  a  large  part  in  bringing  out 


THE   EMPEROR    KANOHL  217 

the  Imperial  Dictionary  of  the  Hanlin  College.  His  writings 
were  marked  by  a  high  code  of  morality  as  well  as  by  the 
lofty  ideas  of  a  broad-minded  statesman.  His  enemies  have 
imputed  to  him  an  excessive  vanity  and  avarice;  but  the 
whole  tenor  of  his  life  disproves  the  former  statement,  and, 
whatever  foundation  in  fact  the  latter  may  have  had,  he 
never  carried  it  to  any  greater  length  than  mere  prudence 
and  consideration  for  the  wants  of  his  people  demanded. 
We  know  that  he  resorted  to  gentle  pressure  to  attain  his 
ends  rather  than  to  tyrannical  force.  "When  he  wished  to 
levy  a  heavy  contribution  from  a  too  rich  subject  he  had 
recourse  to  what  may  be  styled  a  mild  joke,  sooner  than  to 
threats  and  corporal  punishment.  The  following  incident 
has  been  quoted  in  this  connection :  One  day  Kanghi  made 
an  official,  who  had  grown  very  wealthy,  lead  him,  riding 
on  an  ass,  round  his  gardens.  As  recompense  the  emperor 
gave  him  a  tael.  Then  he  himself  led  the  mandarin  in  sim- 
ilar fashion.  At  the  end  of  the  tour  he  asked  how  much 
greater  he  was  than  his  minister?  "The  comparison  is  im- 
possible," said  the  ready  courtier.  "Then  I  must  make  the 
estimate  myself,"  replied  Kanghi.  "I  am  20,000  times  as 
great,  therefore  you  will  pay  me  20,000  taels."  His  reign 
was  singularly  free  from  the  executions  so  common  under 
even  the  best  of  Chinese  rulers;  and,  whenever  possible,  he 
always  tempered  justice  with  mercy. 

Notwithstanding  his  enfeebled  health  and  the  many  ill- 
nesses from  which  he  had  suffered  in  later  life,  he  persisted 
in  following  his  usual  sporting  amusements,  and  he  passed 
the  winter  of  1722  at  his  hunting-box  at  Haidsu.  He  seems 
to  have  caught  a  chill,  and  after  a  brief  illness  he  died  on  the 
20th  of  December  in  that  year. 

The  place  of  Kanghi  among  Chinese  sovereigns  is  clearly 
defined.  He  ranks  on  almost  equal  terms  with  the  two 
greatest  of  them  all — Taitsong  and  his  own  grandson,  Keen 
Lung — and  it  would  be  ungracious,  if  not  impossible,  to  say 
in  what  respect  he  falls  short  of  complete  equality  with 
either,  so  numerous  and  conspicuous  were  his  talents  and  his 

io 


218  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

virtues.  His  long  friendship  and  high  consideration  for  the 
Christian  missionaries  have  no  doubt  contributed  to  bring 
his  name  and  the  events  of  his  reign  more  prominently  before 
Europe  than  was  the  case  with  any  other  Chinese  ruler. 
But,  although  this  predilection  for  European  practices  may 
have  had  the  effect  of  strengthening  his  claims  to  precede 
every  other  of  his  country's  rulers,  it  can  add  but  little  to  the 
impression  produced  on  even  the  most  cursory  reader  by  the 
remarkable  achievements  in  peace  and  war  accomplished  by 
this  gifted  emperor.  Kanghi's  genius  dominates  one  of  the 
most  critical  periods  in  Chinese  history,  of  which  the  narra- 
tive should  form  neither  an  uninteresting  nor  an  uninstruc- 
tive  theme.  Celebrated  as  the  consolidator  and  completer 
of  the  Manchu  conquest,  Kanghi's  virtue  and  moderation 
have  gained  him  permanent  fame  as  a  wise,  just,  and  benef- 
icent national  sovereign  in  the  hearts  of  the  Chinese  people. 


CHAPTER   XII 

A  SHORT  REIGN  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  A  LONG  ONE 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  Kanghi,  his  fourth  son, 
who  had  long  been  designated  as  his  heir,  was  proclaimed 
emperor,  under  the  style  of  Yung  Ching,  which  name  means 
"the  indissoluble  concord  or  stable  peace."  The  late  em- 
peror had  always  favored  this  prince,  and  in  his  will  he 
publicly  proclaimed  that  he  bore  much  resemblance  to  him- 
self, and  that  he  was  a  man  of  rare  and  precious  character. 
His  first  acts  indicated  considerable  vigor  and  decision  of 
mind.  In  the  edict  announcing  the  death  of  his  father  and 
his  own  accession  he  said  that  on  the  advice  of  his  ministers 
he  had  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  imperial  duties, 
without  giving  up  precious  time  to  the  indulgence  of  his 
natural  grief,  which  would  be  gratifying  to  his  feelings,  but 
injurious  to  the  public  interests.  As  Yung  Ching  was  of  the 
mature  age  of  forty-five,  and  as  he  had  enjoyed  the  confi- 


.4    SHORT    REIGN.  219 

dence  of  his  predecessor,  he  was  fully  qualified  to  carry  on 
the  administration.  He  declared  that  his  main  purpose  was 
to  continue  his  father's  work,  and  that  he  would  tread  as 
closely  as  he  could  in  Kanghi's  footsteps.  While  Yung 
Ching  took  these  prompt  steps  to  secure  himself  on  the 
throne,  some  of  his  brothers  assumed  an  attitude  of  menacing 
hostility  toward  him,  and  all  his  energy  and  vigilance  were 
required  to  counteract  their  designs.  A  very  little  time  was 
needed,  however,  to  show  that  Kanghi  had  selected  his 
worthiest  son  as  his  successor,  and  that  China  would  have 
no  reason  to  fear  under  Yung  Ching  the  loss  of  any  of  the 
benefits  conferred  on  the  nation  by  Kanghi.  His  fine  pres- 
ence, and  frank,  open  manner,  secured  for  him  the  sympathy 
and  applause  of  the  public,  and  in  a  very  short  time  he  also 
gained  their  respect  and  admiration  by  his  wisdom  and 
justice. 

The  most  important  and  formidable  of  his  brothers  was 
the  fourteenth  son  of  Kanghi,  by  the  same  mother,  however, 
as  that  of  Yung  Ching.  He  and  his  son  Poki  had  been 
regarded  with  no  inconsiderable  favor  by  Kanghi,  and  at 
one  time  it  was  thought  that  he  would  have  chosen  them 
as  his  successors ;  but  these  expectations  were  disappointed. 
He  was  sent  instead  to  hold  the  chief  command  against  the 
Eleuths  on  the  western  borders.  Young  Ching  determined 
to  remove  him  from  this  post,  in  which  he  might  have  oppor- 
tunities of  asserting  his  independence,  and  for  a  moment  it 
seemed  as  if  he  might  disobey.  But  more  prudent  counsels 
prevailed,  and  he  returned  to  Pekin,  where  he  was  placed 
in  honorable  confinement,  and  retained  there  during  the 
whole  of  Yung  Ching's  reign.  He  and  his  son  owed  their 
release  thirteen  years  later  to  the  greater  clemency  or  self- 
confidence  of  Keen  Lung.  Another  brother,  named  Sessaka, 
also  fell  under  suspicion,  and  he  was  arrested  and  his  estates 
confiscated.  He  was  then  so  far  forgiven  that  a  small  mili- 
tary command  was  given  him  in  the  provinces.  Others  of 
more  importance  were  involved  in  his  affairs.  Lessihin,  son 
of  Prince  Sourniama,  an  elder  brother  of  Kanghi,  was  de- 


220  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

nounced  as  a  sympathizer  and  supporter  of  Sessaka.  The 
charge  seems  to  have  been  based  on  slender  evidence,  but 
it  sufficed  to  cause  the  banishment  of  this  personage  and  all 
his  family  to  Sining.  It  appears  as  if  they  were  specially 
punished  for  having  become  Christians,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  their  conversion  imbittered  the  emperor's  mind  against 
the  Christian  missionaries  and  their  religion.  It  enabled  him 
to  say,  or  at  least  induced  him  to  accept  the  statement,  that 
the  Christians  meddled  and  took  a  side  in  the  internal  politics 
of  the  country.  Yung  Ching  saw  and  seized  his  opportunity. 
His  measures  of  repression  against  the  recalcitrant  party  in 
his  own  family  culminated  in  the  summary  exile  of  Sourni- 
ama  and  all  his  descendants  down  to  the  fourth  generation. 
Sourniama  vainly  endeavored  to  establish  his  innocence, 
and  he  sent  three  of  his  sons,  laden  with  chains,  to  the 
palace,  to  protest  his  innocence  and  devotion.  But  they 
were  refused  audience,  and  Sourniama  and  his  family  sank 
into  oblivion  and  wretchedness  on  the  outskirts  of  the  empire. 
Having  thus  settled  the  difficulties  within  his  own  fam- 
ily, Yung  Ching  next  turned  his  attention  to  humbling  the 
bold  band  of  foreigners  who  had  established  themselves  in 
the  capital  and  throughout  the  country,  as  much  by  their 
own  persistency  and  indifference  to  slight  as  by  the  acquies- 
cence of  the  Chinese  government,  and  who,  after  they  had 
reached  some  of  the  highest  official  posts,  continued  to  preach 
and  propagate  their  gospel  of  a  supreme  power  and  mercy 
beyond  the  control  of  kings,  a  gospel  which  was  simply  de- 
structive of  the  paternal  and  sacred  claims  on  which  a  Chi 
nese  emperor  based  his  authority  as  superior  to  all  earthly 
interference,  and  as  transmitted  to  him  direct  from  Heaven. 
The  official  classes  confirmed  the  emperor's  suspicions,  and 
encouraged  him  to  proceed  to  extreme  lengths.  On  all  sides 
offenses  were  freely  laid  at  the  doors  of  the  missionaries.  It 
was  said  of  them  that  "their  doctrine  sows  trouble  among 
the  people,  and  makes  them  doubt  the  goodness  of  our  laws." 
In  the  province  of  Fuhkien  their  eighteen  churches  were 
closed,  and  the  priests  were  summarily  ordered  to  return  to 


A    SHORT   REIQN.  221 

Macao.  At  Pekin  itself  the  Jesuits  lost  all  ■  their  influence. 
Those  who  had  been  well-disposed  toward  them  were  either 
banished  or  cowed  into  silence.  The  emperor  turned  his 
back  on  them  and  refused  to  see  them,  and  they  could  only- 
wait  with  their  usual  fortitude  until  the  period  of  imperial 
displeasure  had  passed  over.  When  they  endeavored  to  en- 
list in  their  support  the  sympathy  and  influence  of  the  em- 
peror's brother — the  thirteenth  prince — who  in  Kanghi's  time 
had  been  considered  their  friend,  they  met  with  a  rebuff  not 
unnatural  or  unreasonable  when  the  mishaps  to  his  relations 
for  their  Christian  proclivities  are  borne  in  mind.  This  prince 
said,  in  words  which  have  often  been  repeated  since  by  Chi- 
nese ministers  and  political  writers,  "What  would  you  say 
if  our  people  were  to  go  to  Europe  and  wished  to  change 
there  the  laws  and  customs  established  by  your  ancient  sages? 
The  emperor,  my  brother,  wishes  to  put  an  end  to  all  this  in 
an  effectual  manner.  I  have  seen  the  accusation  of  the 
Tsongtou  of  Fuhkien.  It  is  undoubtedly  strong,  and  your 
disputes  about  our  customs  have  greatly  injured  you.  What 
would  you  say  if  we  were  to  transport  ourselves  to  Europe 
and  to  act  there  as  you  have  done  here?  Would  you  stand 
it  for  a  moment?  In  the  course  of  time  I  shall  master  this 
business,  but  I  declare  to  you  that  China  will  want  for  noth- 
ing when  you  cease  to  live  in  it,  and  that  your  absence  will 
not  cause  it  any  loss.  Here  nobody  is  retained  by  force,  and 
nobody  also  will  be  suffered  to  break  the  laws  or  to  make 
light  of  our  customs." 

The  influence  of  Yung  Ching  on  the  development  of  the 
important  foreign  question  arrested  the  ambition  and  san- 
guine flight  of  the  imagination  of  the  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries, who,  rendered  overconfident  by  their  success  un- 
der Kanghi,  believed  that  they  held  the  future  of  China  in 
their  own  hands,  and  that  persistency  alone  was  needed  to 
secure  the  adhesion  of  that  country  to  the  Christian  Church. 
Yung  Ching  dispelled  these  illusions,  and  so  far  as  they 
were  illusions,  which  nearly  two  subsequent  centuries  have 
proved  them  to  be,  it  was  well  that  they  should  be  so  dis- 


222  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

pellecfc  He  asserted  himself  in  very  unequivocal  terms  as 
an  emperor  of  China,  and  as  resolute  in  maintaining  his  sov- 
ereign position  outside  the  control  of  any  religious  potentate 
or  creed.  The  progress  of  the  Christian  religion  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  in  China  was  quite  incompatible  with 
the  supposed  celestial  origin  of  the  emperor,  who  was  alleged 
to  receive  his  authority  direct  from  Heaven.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  Yung  Ching,  at  the  earliest  possible  moment, 
decided  to  blight  these  hopes,  and  to  assert  the  natural  and 
inherited  prerogative  of  a  Chinese  emperor.  There  is  no 
room  to  doubt  that  the  Catholic  priests  had  drawn  a  too 
hasty  and  too  favorable  deduction  from  the  favor  of  Kanghi. 
They  confounded  their  practical  utility  with  the  intrinsic 
merit  and  persuasive  force  of  Christianity.  An  enlightened 
ruler  had  recognized  the  former,  but  a  skeptical  people  showed 
themselves  singularly  obdurate  to  the  latter.  The  persecu- 
tion of  the  Christians,  of  which  the  letters  from  the  mission- 
aries at  Pekin  at  this  time  are  so  full,  did  not  go  beyond  the 
placing  of  some  restraint  on  the  preaching  of  their  religion. 
No  wholesale  executions  or  sweeping  decrees  passed  against 
their  persons  attended  its  course  or  marked  its  development. 
Yung  Ching  simply  showed  by  his  conduct  that  they  must 
count  no  longer  on  the  favor  of  the  emperor  in  the  carrying 
out  of  their  designs.  The  difficulties  inherent  in  the  task 
they  had  undertaken  stood  for  the  first  time  fully  revealed, 
and  having  been  denounced  as  a  source  of  possible  danger 
to  the  stability  of  the  empire,  they  became  an  object  of 
suspicion  even  to  those  who  had  sympathized  with  them 
personally,  if  not  with  their  creed. 

The  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Yung  Ching  were  marked 
by  extraordinary  public  misfortunes.  The  flooding  of  the 
Hoangho  entailed  a  famine,  which  spread  such  desolation 
throughout  the  northern  provinces  that  it  is  affirmed,  on 
credible  authority,  that  40,000  persons  were  fed  at  the  state 
expense  in  Pekin  alone  for  a  period  of  four  months.  The 
taxes  in  some  of  the  most  important  cities  and  wealthiest 
districts  had  to  be  greatly  reduced,  and  the  resources  of  the 


A    SHORT    REIGN.  223 

exchequer  were  severely  strained.  But  the  loss  and  suffering 
caused  by  the  famine  were  speedily  cast  into  the  shade  by 
a  terrible  and  sudden  visitation  which  carried  desolation  and 
destruction  throughout  the  whole  of  the  metropolitan  prov- 
ince of  Pechihli.  The  northern  districts  of  China  have  for 
many  centuries  been  liable  to  the  frequent  recurrence  of 
earthquakes  on  a  terribly  vast  and  disastrous  scale,  but  none 
of  them  equaled  in  its  terrific  proportions  that  of  the  year 
1730.  It  came  without  warning,  but  the  shocks  continued 
for  ten  days.  Over  100,000  persons  were  overwhelmed  in 
a  moment  at  Pekin,  the  suburbs  were  laid  in  ruins,  the  im- 
perial palace  was  destroyed,  the  summer  residence  at  Yuen 
Ming  Yuen,  on  which  Yung  Ching  had  lavished  his  taste 
and  his  treasure,  suffered  in  scarcely  a  less  degree.  The 
emperor  and  the  inhabitants  fled  from  the  city,  and  took 
shelter  without  the  walls,  where  they  encamped.  The  loss 
was  incalculable,  and  it  has  been  stated  that  Yung  Ching 
expended  seventy-five  million  dollars  in  repairing  the  damage 
and  allaying  the  public  misfortune.  Notwithstanding  these 
national  calamities  the  population  increased,  and  in  some 
provinces  threatened  to  outgrow  the  production  of  rice. 
Various  devices  were  resorted  to  to  check  the  growth  of  the 
population ;  but  they  were  all  of  a  simple  and  harmless  char- 
acter, such  as  the  issue  of  rewards  to  widows  who  did  not 
marry  again  and  to  bachelors  who  preserved  their  state. 

The  military  events  of  Yung  Ching's  reign  were  confined 
to  the  side  of  Central  Asia,  where  Tse  "Wang  Rabdan  emu- 
lated with  more  than  ordinary  success  the  example  of  his 
predecessors,  and  where  he  transmitted  his  power  and  author- 
ity to  his  son,  Galdan  Chereng,  on  his  death  in  1727.  He 
established  his  sovereignty  over  the  whole  of  Kashgaria, 
which  he  ruled  through  a  prince  named  Daniel,  and  he 
established  relations  with  the  Russians,  which  at  one  time 
promised  to  attain  a  cordial  character,  but  which  were  sud- 
denly converted  into  hostility  by  the  Russian  belief  that  the 
Upper  Urtish  lay  in  a  gold  region  which  they  resolved  to 
conquer.     Instead  of  an  ally  they  then  found  in  Tse  Wang 


224  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

Rabclan  the  successful  defender  of  that  region.  But  the 
wars  of  Central  Asia  had  no  interest  for  Yung  Ching.  He 
was  one  of  the  Chinese  rulers  who  thought  that  he  should 
regard  these  matters  as  outside  his  concern,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  Kanghi's  wars  had  divided  Chinese  statesmen  into 
two  clearly-defined  parties :  those  who  held  that  China  should 
conquer  Central  Asia  up  to  the  Pamir,  and  those  who  thought 
that  the  Great  "Wall  was  the  best  practical  limit  for  the  exer- 
cise of  Chinese  authority.  Yung  Ching  belonged  to  the  lat- 
ter school,  and,  instead  of  dispatching  fresh  armies  into  the 
Gobi  region  to  complete  the  triumph  of  his  father,  he  with- 
drew those  that  were  there,  and  publicly  proclaimed  that  the 
aggressive  chiefs  and  turbulent  tribes  of  that  region  might 
fight  out  their  own  quarrels,  and  indulge  their  own  petty 
ambitions  as  best  they  felt  disposed.  The  success  of  this 
policy  would  have  been  incontestable  if  it  had  been  reflected 
in  the  conduct  of  the  Central  Asian  princelets,  who,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  see  in  the  moderation  and  inaction  of  the 
Chinese  ruler  only  a  fresh  incentive  to  aggression  and  turbu- 
lence. Yung  Ching  himself  died  too  soon  to  appreciate  the 
shortcomings  of  his  own  policy. 

In  the  midst  of  his  labors  as  a  beneficent  ruler  the  life  of 
Yung  Ching  was  cut  short.  On  October  7,  1735,  he  gave 
audience  to  the  high  officials  of  his  court  in  accordance  with 
his  usual  custom ;  but  feeling  indisposed  he  was  compelled 
to  break  off  the  interview  in  a  sudden  manner.  His  indis- 
position at  once  assumed  a  grave  form,  and  in  a  few  hours 
he  had  ceased  to  live.  The  loss  of  this  emperor  does  not 
seem  to  have  caused  any  profound  or  widespread  sentiment 
of  grief  among  the  masses,  although  the  more  intelligent 
recognized  in  him  one  of  those  wise  and  prudent  rulers  whose 
tenure  of  power  makes  their  people's  happiness. 

Yung  Ching  died  so  suddenly  that  he  had  not  nominated 
his  heir.  He  left  three  sons,  and,  after  brief  consideration, 
the  eldest  of  these — to  whom  was  given  the  name  of  Keen 
Lung — was  placed  upon  the  throne.  The  choice  was  justi- 
fied by  the  result,  although  the  chroniclers  declare  that  it 


A   SHORT    REIGNl  235 

came  as  a  surprise  to  the  recipient  of  the  honor,  as  he  had 
passed  his  life  in  the  pursuit  of  literary  studies  rather  than 
in  practical  administrative  work.  His  skill  and  proficiency 
in  the  field  of  letters  had  already  been  proved  before  his 
father's  death ;  but  of  public  affairs  and  the  government  of 
a  vast  empire  he  knew  little  or  nothing.  He  was  a  student 
of  books  rather  than  of  men,  and  he  had  to  undergo  a  pre- 
liminary course  of  training  in  the  art  of  government  before 
he  felt  himself  capable  of  assuming  the  reigns  of  power. 
Moreover,  Keen  Lung,  although  the  eldest  son,  was  not  the 
offspring  of  the  empress,  and  the  custom  of  succession  in  the 
imperial  family  was  too  uncertain  to  allow  any  one  in  his 
position  to  feel  absolute  confidence  as  to  his  claims  securing 
the  recognition  they  might  seem  to  warrant.  His  admission 
of  his  being  unequal  to  the  duties  of  his  lofty  position,  not- 
withstanding that  he  was  twenty-five  years  of  age,  was 
thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  augured  well  for 
the  future  of  his  reign.  He  appointed  four  regents,  whose 
special  task  was  to  show  him  how  to  rule ;  but  in  the  edict 
delegating  his  authority  to  them  he  expressly  limited  its  ap- 
plication to  the  period  of  mourning,  covering  a  space  of  four 
years ;  and  as  a  measure  of  precaution  against  any  undue 
ambition  he  made  the  office  terminable  at  his  discretion. 

Keen  Lung  began  his  reign  with  acts  of  clemency,  which 
seldom  fail  to  add  a  special  luster  to  a  sovereign's  assump- 
tion of  power.  His  father  had  punished  with  rigor  some  of 
the  first  princes  of  the  court  simply  because  they  were  his 
relations,  and  there  is  some  ground  for  thinking  that  he  had 
put  forward  antipathy  to  the  foreign  heresy  of  the  Christians 
as  a  cloak  to  conceal  his  private  animosities  and  personal 
apprehensions.  Keen  Lung  at  once  resolved  to  reverse  the 
acts  of  his  predecessor,  and  to  offer  such  reparation  as  he 
could  to  those  who  had  suffered  for  no  sufficient  offense. 
The  sons  of  Kanghi  and  their  children  who  had  fallen  under 
the  suspicion  of  Yung  Ching  were  released  from  their  con 
finement,  and  restored  to  their  rank  and  privileges.  They 
showed  their  gratitude  to  their  benefactor  by  sustained  loy* 


223  A   SHORT  HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

alty  and  practical  service  that  contributed  to  the  splendor 
of  his  long  reign.  The  impression  thus  produced  on  the 
public  mind  was  also  most  favorable,  and  already  the  people 
were  beginning  to  declare  that  they  had  found  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor to  the  great  Kanghi. 

There  is  nothing  surprising  to  learn  that  in  consequence 
of  the  pardon  and  restitution  of  the  men  who  had  nominally 
suffered  for  their  Christian  proclivities  the  foreign  mission- 
aries began  to  hope  and  to  agitate  for  an  improvement  in 
their  lot  and  condition.  They  somewhat  hastily  assumed 
that  the  evil  days  of  persecution  were  over,  and  that  Keen 
Lung  would  accord  them  the  same  honorable  positions  as 
they  had  enjoyed  under  his  grandfather,  Kanghi.  These 
expectations  were  destined  to  a  rude  disappointment,  as  the 
party  hostile  to  the  Christians  remained  as  strong  as  ever  at 
court,  and  the  regents  were  not  less  prejudiced  against  them 
than  the  ministers  of  Yung  Ching  had  been.  The  emperor's 
own  opinion  does  not  appear  to  have  been  very  strong  one 
way  or  the  other,  but  it  seems  probable  that  he  was  slightly 
prejudiced  against  the  foreigners.  He  certainly  assented  to 
an  order  prohibiting  the  practice  of  Christianity  by  any  of 
his  subjects,  and  ordaining  the  punishment  of  those  who 
should  obstinately  adhere  to  it.  At  the  same  time  the  for- 
eign missionaries  were  ordered  to  confine  their  labors  to  the 
secular  functions  in  which  they  were  useful,  and  to  give  up 
fdl  attempts  to  propagate  their  creed.  Still  some  slight 
abatement  in  practice  was  procured  of  these  rigid  meas- 
ures through  the  mediation  of  the  painter  Castiglione,  who, 
while  taking  a  portrait  of  the  emperor,  pleaded,  and  not  in- 
effectually, the  cause  of  his  countrymen.  There  was  one 
distinct  persecution  on  a  large  scale  in  the  province  of  Fuh- 
kien,  where  several  Spanish  missionaries  were  tortured,  their 
chief  native  supporters  strangled,  and  Keen  Lung  himself 
sent  the  order  to  execute  the  missionaries  in  retaliation  for 
the  massacre  of  Chinese  subjects  by  the  Spaniards  in  the 
Philippines.  After  he  had  been  on  the  throne  fifteen  years, 
Keen  Lung  began  to  unbend  toward  the  foreigners,  and  to 


A    SH0R7    REIGN.  22? 

avail  himself  of  their  services  in  the  same  manner  as  his 
grandfather  had  done.  The  artists  Castiglione  and  Attiret 
were  constantly  employed  in  the  palace,  painting  his  por- 
trait and  other  pictures.  Keen  Lung  is  said  to  have  been 
so  pleased  with  that  drawn  by  Attiret  that  he  wished  to 
make  him  a  mandarin.  The  French  in  particular  strove 
to  amuse  the  great  monarch,  and  to  enable  him  to  wile  away 
his  leisure  with  ingeniously  constructed  automatons  worked 
by  clockwork  machinery.  He  also  learned  from  them  much 
about  the  politics  and  material  condition  of  Europe,  and  it 
is  not  surprising  that  he  became  imbued  with  the  idea  that 
France  was  the  greatest  and  most  powerful  state  in  that 
continent.  Almost  insensibly  Keen  Lung  entertained  a  more 
favorable  opinion  of  the  foreigners,  and  extended  to  them 
his  protection  with  other  privileges  that  had  long  been  with- 
held. But  this  policy  was  attributable  to  practical  considera- 
tions and  not  to  religious  belief. 

Very  little  detailed  information  is  obtainable  about  the 
inner  working  of  the  government  and  the  annual  course  of 
events,  owing  to  the  practice  of  not  giving  the  official  history 
of  the  dynasty  publicity  until  after  it  has  ceased  to  reign;  so 
all  that  can  be  said  with  any  confidence  of  the  first  fifteen 
years  of  Keen  Lung's  reign,  is  that  they  were  marked  by 
great  internal  prosperity  arising  from  the  tranquillity  of  the 
realm  and  the  content  of  the  people.  Any  misfortunes  that 
befell  the  realm  were  of  personal  importance  to  the  sovereign 
rather  than  of  national  significance,  although  some  of  the 
foreign  priests  affected  to  see  in  them  the  retribution  of 
Providence  for  the  apathy  and  tyranny  of  the  Chinese  rulers. 
In  1751  Keen  Lung  lost  both  his  principal  wife,  the  empress, 
and  his  eldest  son.  His  disagreements  with  his  ministers 
also  proved  many  and  serious,  and  the  letters  from  Pekin 
note,  with  more  than  a  gleam  of  satisfaction,  that  those 
who  were  most  prominent  as  Anti-Christians  suffered  most 
heavily.  Keen  Lung  suffered  from  physical  weakness,  and 
a  susceptibility  to  bodily  ailments,  that  detracted  during  the 
first  few  years  of  his  reign  from  his  capacity  to  discharge  all 


328  A    SHORT  HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

the  duties  of  his  position,  and  more  than  their  usual  share 
of  power  consequently  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  great  tri- 
bunals of  the  state.  "When  Keen  Lung  resolutely  devoted 
himself  to  the  task  of  supervising  the  acts  of  the  official 
world  the  evils  became  less  perceptible,  and  gradually  the 
provincial  governors  found  it  to  be  their  best  and  wisest 
course  to  obey  and  faithfully  execute  the  behests  of  their 
sovereign.  For  a  brief  space  Keen  Lung  seemed  likely  to 
prove  more  indifferent  to  the  duties  of  his  rank  than  either 
of  his  predecessors;  but  after  a  few  years'  practice  he  hast- 
ened to  devote  himself  to  his  work  with  an  energy  which 
neither  Kanghi  nor  Yung  Ching  had  surpassed. 

Keen  Lung  seems  to  have  passed  his  time  between  his 
palace  at  Pekin  and  his  hunting-box  at  Jehol,  a  small  town 
beyond  the  Wall.  The  latter,  perhaps,  was  his  favorite  resi- 
dence, because  he  enjoyed  the  quiet  of  the  country,  and  the 
purer  and  more  invigorating  air  of  the  northern  region 
agreed  with  his  constitution.  Here  he  varied  the  monotony 
of  rural  pursuits — for  he  never  became  as  keen  a  hunter  as 
Kanghi — with  grand  ceremonies  which  he  employed  the  for- 
eigners in  painting.  It  was  at  Jehol  that  he  planned  most 
of  his  military  campaigns,  and  those  conquests  which  carried 
his  banners  to  the  Pamir  and  the  Himalaya.  If  the  earlier 
period  of  Keen  Lung's  reign  was  tranquil  and  undisturbed 
by  war,  the  last  forty  years  made  up  for  it  by  their  sustained 
military  excitement  and  achievement.  As  soon  as  Keen 
Lung  grasped  the  situation  and  found  that  the  administra- 
tion of  the  country  was  working  in  perfect  order,  he  resolved 
to  attain  a  complete  settlement  of  the  questions  pending  in 
Central  Asia,  which  his  father  had  shirked.  Up  to  this  time 
Keen  Lung  had  been  generally  set  down  as  a  literary  student, 
as  a  man  more  of  thought  than  of  action.  But  his  reading 
had  taught  him  one  thing,  and  that  was  that  the  danger  to 
China  from  the  side  of  Central  Asia  was  one  that  went  back 
to  remote  ages,  that  it  had  never  been  allayed,  save  for  brief 
intervals,  and  then  only  by  establishing  Chinese  authority  on 
either  side  of  the  Tian  Shan      His  studies  showed  Keen  Lung 


KEEN  LUNG'S    WARS    AND    CONQUESTS.  229 

what  ought  to  be  done,  and  the  aggressions  of  his  neighbors 
soon  gave  him  the  opportunity  of  carrying  out  the  policy 
that  he  felt  to  be  the  best. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

KEEN  LUNG'S  WARS  AND  CONQUESTS 

It  was  the  arrival  of  a  chief  named  Amursana  at  his 
court  that  first  led  Keen  Lung  to  seriously  entertain  the  idea 
of  advancing  into  Central  Asia,  and  having  determined  on 
the  Central  Asian  campaign,  Keen  Lung's  military  prepara- 
tions were  commensurate  with  the  importance  and  magni- 
tude of  the  undertaking.  He  collected  an  army  of  150,000 
men,  including  the  picked  Manchu  Banners  and  the  cele- 
brated Solon  contingent,  each  of  whom  was  said  to  be  worth 
ten  other  soldiers.  The  command  of  this  army  was  given 
to  Panti,  the  best  of  the  Manchu  generals,  and  Amursana! 
who  accompanied  it,  received  a  seal  and  the  honorary  title 
of  Great  General.  But  Keen  Lung  superintended  all  the 
operations  of  the  war,  and  took  credit  to  himself  for  its 
successful  issue. 

The  triumph  of  Amursana,  by  the  aid  of  the  Chinese,  did 
not  bring  tranquillity  to  Central  Asia.  He  was  not  con- 
tented with  the  position  to  which  the  friendship  of  Keen 
Lung  had  raised  him,  and,  placing  too  high  an  estimate  on 
his  own  ability  and  resources,  he  was  inclined  to  dispute  the 
accepted  opinion  that  all  his  success  was  due  to  the  Chinese 
army.  On  the  termination  of  the  campaign  the  major  por- 
tion of  that  army  returned  to  China,  but  Panti  was  left 
with  a  select  contingent,  partly  to  support  Amursana,  and 
partly  to  secure  the  restoration  of  China's  authority.  Amur- 
sana, however,  considered  that  the  presence  of  this  force 
detracted  from  the  dignity  of  his  position.  Having  risen  to 
the  greatness  he  coveted,  Amursana  meditated  casting  aside 


*30  A    SHORT    HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

the  prop  by  which  he  had  risen;  but  before  he  took  an  irre 
traceable  step  he  resolved  to  make  use  of  the  Chinese  forces 
for  extending  his  authority  south  of  the  Tian  Shan  range 
into  Kashgaria.  With  some  hesitation  Panti  lent  him  500 
Chinese  soldiers,  and  with  their  aid  the  Eleuth  prince  cap- 
tured the  cities  of  Kashgar  and  Yarkand,  and  set  up  a  chief 
named  Barhanuddin  Khoja  as  his  nominee.  This  success 
confirmed  Amursana  in  his  good  opinion  of  himself  and  his 
resources,  and  when  Keen  Lung,  who  had  grown  mistrustful 
of  his  good  faith,  summoned  him  to  Pekin,  he  resolved  to 
throw  off  the  mask  and  his  allegiance  to  China.  At  this 
supreme  moment  of  his  fate  not  the  least  thought  of  grati- 
tude to  the  Chinese  emperor,  who  had  made  him  what  he 
was,  seems  to  have  entered  his  mind.  He  determined  not 
merely  to  disregard  the  summons  to  Pekin  and  to  proclaim 
his  independence,  but  also  to  show  the  extent  of  his  hostility 
by  adding  to  his  defiance  an  act  of  treachery.  Before  he 
fully  revealed  his  plans  he  surprised  the  Chinese  garrison 
and  massacred  it  to  the  last  man;  the  valiant  Panti,  who 
had  gained  his  victories  for  him,  being  executed  by  the 
public  executioner. 

The  impression  produced  by  this  event  was  profound,  and 
when  Amursana  followed  up  the  blow  by  spreading  abroad 
rumors  of  the  magnitude  of  his  designs  they  obtained  some 
credence  even  among  the  Mongols.  Encouraged  by  this 
success  he  sought  to  rally  those  tribes  to  his  side  by  imputing 
sinister  intentions  to  Keen  Lung.  His  emissaries  declared 
that  Keen  Lung  wished  to  deprive  them  all  of  their  rank 
and  authority,  and  that  he  had  summoned  Amursana  to 
Pekin  only  for  the  purpose  of  deposing  him.  To  com- 
plete the  quarrel,  Amursana  declared  himself  King  of  the 
Eleuths,  and  absolutely  independent  of  China.  But  the 
energy  and  indignation  of  Keen  Lung  soon  exposed  the  hoi- 
lowness  of  these  designs,  and  the  inadequacy  of  Amursana 's 
power  and  capacity  to  make  good  his  pretensions.  Keen 
Lung  collected  another  army  larger  than  that  which  had 
placed  him  on  his  throne,  to  hurl  Amursana  from  the  su- 


KEEN  LUNG'S    WARS   AND    CONQUESTS.  231 

premacy  which  had   not  satisfied  him  and  which  he  had 
grossly  abused. 

The  armies  of  Keen  Lung  traversed  the  Gobi  Desert  and 
arrived  in  Central  Asia,  but  the  incapacity  of  his  generals 
prevented  the  campaigns  having  those  decisive  results  which 
he  expected.  The  autocratic  Chinese  ruler  treated  his  gen- 
erals who  failed  like  the  fickle  French  Republic.  The  pen- 
alty of  failure  was  a  public  execution.  Keen  Lung  would 
accept  nothing  short  of  the  capture  of  Amursana  as  evidence 
of  his  victory,  and  Amursana  escaped  to  the  Kirghiz.  His 
celerity  or  ingenuity  cost  the  lives  of  four  respectable  Chinese 
generals,  two  of  whom  were  executed  at  Pekin  and  two  were 
slain  by  brigands  on  their  way  there  to  share  the  same  fate. 
Emboldened  by  the  inability  of  the  Chinese  to  capture  him, 
Amursana  again  assembled  an  army  and  pursued  the  retiring" 
Chinese  across  the  desert,  where  he  succeeded  in  inflicting 
no  inconsiderabte  loss  upon  them. 

When  the  Chinese  army  retired  before  Amursana  one 
corps  maintained  its  position  and  successfully  defied  him, 
thanks  to  the  capacity  of  its  commander,  Tchaohoei.  Tchao- 
hoei  not  merely  held  his  ground,  but  drew  up  a  scheme  for 
regaining  all  that  had  been  lost  in  Central  Asia,  and  Keen 
Lung  was  so  impressed  by  it  that  he  at  once  resolved  to 
intrust  the  execution  of  his  policy  to  the  only  officer  who 
had  shown  any  military  capacity.  Two  fresh  armies  were 
sent  to  the  Hi,  and  placed,  on  their  arrival  there,  under  the 
command  of  Tchaohoei,  who  was  exhorted,  above  all  things, 
to  capture  Amursana,  dead  or  alive.  Tchaohoei  at  once 
assumed  the  offensive,  and  as  Amursana  was  abandoned  by 
his  followers  as  soon  as  they  saw  that  China  was  putting 
forth  the  whole  of  her  strength,  he  had  no  alternative  but 
once  more  to  flee  for  shelter  to  the  Kirghiz.  But  the  condi- 
tions imposed  by  Keen  Lung  were  so  rigorous  that  Tchaohoei 
realized  that  the  capture  of  Amursana  was  essential  to  his 
gaining  the  confidence  and  gratitude  of  his  master.  He, 
therefore,  sent  his  best  lieutenant,  Fouta,  to  pursue  the 
Eleuth  prince.     Fouta  pursued  Amursana  with  the  energy 


232  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

of  one  who  has  to  gain  his  spurs,  and  he  almost  succeeded 
in  effecting  his  capture,  but  Amursana  just  made  his  escape 
in  time  across  the  frontier  into  Russian  territory.  But  Keen 
Lung  was  not  satisfied  with  this  result,  and  he  sent  both  to 
Fouta  and  Tchaohoei  to  rest  satisfied  with  nothing  short 
of  the  capture  of  Amursana.  The  close  of  that  unfortunate 
prince's  career  was  near  at  hand,  although  it  was  not  ended 
by  the  act  of  the  Chinese  officers.  He  died  in  Russian  ter- 
ritory of  a  fever,  and  when  the  Chinese  demanded  of  their 
neighbors  that  his  body  should  be  surrendered  they  refused, 
on  the  ground  that  enmity  should  cease  with  death;  but 
Fouta  was  able  to  report  to  his  sovereign  that  he  had  seen 
with  his  own  eyes  the  mortal  remains  of  the  Eleuth  chief 
who  had  first  been  the  humble  friend  and  then  the  bitter 
foe  of  the  Manchu  ruler. 

Keen  Lung  decided  to  administer  the  country  which  he 
had  conquered.  But  another  step  was  seen  to  be  necessary 
to  give  stability  to  the  Chinese  administration,  and  that  was 
the  annexation  of  Kashgaria.  The  great  region  of  Little 
Bokhara  or  Eastern  Turkestan,  known  to  us  now  under  the 
more  convenient  form  of  Kashgaria,  was  still  ruled  by  the 
Khoja  Barhanuddin,  who  had  been  placed  in  power  by 
Amursana,  and  it  afforded  a  shelter  for  all  the  disaffected, 
and  a  base  of  hostility  against  the  Chinese.  Even  if  Tcha- 
ohoei had  not  reported  that  the  possession  of  Kashgaria 
was  essential  to  the  military  security  of  Jungaria,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  sonner  or  later  Keen  Lung  would  have  pro- 
ceeded to  extreme  lengths  with  regard  to  Barhanuddin.  The 
Chinese  were  fully  warranted,  however,  in  treating  him  as 
an  enemy  when  he  seized  an  envoy  sent  to  his  capital  by 
Tchaohoei  and  executed  him  and  his  escort.  This  outrage 
precluded  all  possibility  of  an  amicable  arrangement,  and 
the  Chinese  prepared  their  fighting  men  for  the  invasion  and 
conquest  of  Kashgaria.  They  crossed  the  frontier  in  two 
bodies,  one  under  the  command  of  Tchaohoei,  the  other 
under  that  of  Fouta.  Any  resistance  that  Barhanuddin 
and    his    brother  attempted   was    speedily   overcome;    the 


KEEN  LUNG'S    WARS   AND    CONQUESTS.  233 

principal  cities,  Kashgar  and  Yarkand,  were  occupied, 
and  the  ill-advised  princes  were  compelled  to  seek  their 
personal  safety  by  a  precipitate  flight.  The  conquest  and 
annexation  of  Kashgaria  completed  the  task  with  which 
Tchaohoei  was  charged,  and  it  also  realized  Keen  Lung's 
main  idea  by  setting  up  his  authority  in  the  midst  of  the 
turbulent  tribes  who  had  long  disturbed  the  empire,  and 
who  first  learned  peaceful  pursuits  as  his  subjects.  The 
Chinese  commanders  followed  up  this  decided  success  by 
the  dispatch  of  several  expeditions  into  the  adjoining  states. 

The  ruler  of  Khokand  was  either  so  much  impressed  by 
his  neighbor's  prowess,  or,  as  there  is  much  reason  to  believe, 
experienced  himself  the  weight  of  their  power  by  the  occupa- 
tion of  his  principal  cities,  Tashkent  and  Khokand,  that  he 
hastened  to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  emperor  and  to 
enroll  himself  among  the  tributaries  of  the  Son  of  Heaven. 
The  tribute  he  bound  himself  to  pay  was  sent  without  a 
break  for  a  period  of  half  a  century.  The  Kirghiz  chiefs 
of  low  and  high  degree  imitated  his  example,  and  a  firm 
peace  was  thus  established  from  one  end  of  Central  Asia  to 
the  other.  The  administration  was  divided  between  Chinese 
and  native  officials,  and  if  there  was  tyranny,  the  people 
suffered  rather  from  that  of  the  Mohammedan  Hakim  Beg 
than  that  of  the  Confucian  Amban. 

Keen  Lung  was  engaged  in  many  more  wars  than  those 
in  Central  Asia.  On  the  side  of  Burmah  he  found  his  bor- 
ders disturbed  by  nomad  and  predatory  tribes  not  less  than 
in  the  region  of  Gobi.  These  clans  had  long  been  a  source 
of  annoyance  and  anxiety  to  the  viceroy  of  Yunnan,  but  the 
weakness  of  the  courts  of  Ava  and  Pegu,  who  stood  behind 
these  frontagers,  had  prevented  the  local  grievance  becoming 
a  national  danger.  But  the  triumph  of  the  remarkable 
A.lompra,  who  united  Pegu  and  Burmah  into  a  single  state, 
and  who  controlled  an  army  with  which  he  effected  many 
triumphs,  showed  that  this  state  of  things  might  not  always 
continue,  and  that  the  day  would  come  when  China  might 
be  exposed  to  a  grave  peril  from  this  side.     The  successors 


234  A   SHORT  HISTORl    OF   CHINA. 

of  Alompra  inherited  his  pretensions  if  not  his  ability,  and 
when  the  Chinese  called  upon  them  to  keep  the  borders  in 
better  order  or  to  punish  some  evildoers,  they  sent  back  a 
haughty  and  unsatisfactory  reply.  Sembuen,  the  grandson 
of  Alompra,  was  king  when  Keen  Lung  ordered,  in  the  year 
1768,  his  generals  to  invade  Burmah,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
war  was  intrusted  to  an  officer  in  high  favor  at  court,  named 
Count  Alikouen,  instead  of  to  Fouta,  the  hero  of  the  Central 
Asian  war,  who  had  fallen  under  the  emperor's  grave  dis- 
pleasure for  what,  after  all,  appears  to  have  been  a  trifling 
offense.  The  course  of  the  campaign  is  difficult  to  follow, 
for  both  the  Chinese  and  the  Burmese  claim  the  same  battles 
as  victories,  but  this  will  not  surprise  those  who  remember 
that  the  Burmese  court  chroniclers  described  all  the  encoun- 
ters with  the  English  forces  in  the  wars  of  1829  and  1853  as 
having  been  victorious.  The  advance  of  the  Chinese  army, 
estimated  to  exceed  200,000  men,  from  Bhamo  to  Ava  shows 
clearly  enough  the  true  course  of  the  war,  and  that  the  Chi- 
nese were  able  to  carry  all  before  them  up  to  the  gates  of  the 
capital.  Count  Alikouen  did  not  display  any  striking  mili- 
tary capacity,  but  by  retaining  possession  of  the  country 
above  Ava  for  three  years  he  at  last  compelled  the  Burmese 
to  sue  for  peace  on  humiliating  terms. 

In  previous  chapters  the  growth  of  China's  relations  with 
Tibet  has  been  traced,  and  especially  under  the  Manchu 
dynasty.  The  control  established  by  Kanghi  after  the  retire- 
ment of  the  Jungarian  army  was  maintained  by  both  his 
successors,  and  for  fifty  years  Tibet  had  that  perfect  tran- 
quillity which  is  conveyed  by  the  expression  that  it  had  no 
history.  The  young  Dalai  Lama,  who  fled  to  Sining  to 
escape  from  Latsan  Khan,  was  restored,  and  under  the 
name  of  Lobsang  Kalsang  pursued  a  subservient  policy  to 
China  for  half  a  century.  In  the  year  1749  an  unpleasant 
incident  took  place  through  a  collision  between  the  Chinese 
ambans  and  the  Civil  Regent  or  Gyalpo,  who  administered 
the  secular  affairs  of  the  Dalai  Lama.  The  former  acted  in 
a  high-handed  and  arbitrary  manner,  and  put  the  Gyalpo 


KEEN  LUNG'S    WARS   AND    CONQUESTS.  235 

to  death.  But  in  this  tbey  went  too  far,  for  both  the  lamas 
and  the  people  strongly  resented  it,  and  revolted  against  the 
Chinese,  whom  they  massacred  to  the  last  man.  For  a  time 
it  looked  as  if  the  matter  might  have  a  very  serious  ending, 
but  Keen  Lung  contented  himself  with  sending  fresh  ambans 
and  an  escort  to  Tibet,  and  enjoining  them  to  abstain  from 
undue  interference  with  the  Tibetans.  But  at  the  same  time 
that  they  showed  this  moderation  the  Chinese  took  a  very 
astute  measure  to  render  their  position  stronger  than  ever. 
They  asserted  their  right  to  have  the  supreme  voice  in  nomi- 
nating the  Gyalpo,  and  they  soon  reduced  that  high  official, 
the  Prime  Minister  of  Tibet,  to  the  position  of  a  creature  of 
their  own.  The  policy  was  both  astute  and  successful.  The 
Tibetans  had  welcomed  the  Chinese  originally  because  they 
saved  them  from  the  Eleuth  army,  and  provided  a  guarantee 
against  a  fresh  invasion.  But  the  long  peace  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  Eleuth  power  had  led  the  Tibetans  to  think 
less  of  the  advantage  of  Chinese  protection,  and  to  pine  for 
complete  independence.  The  lamas  also  bitterly  resented  the 
assumption  by  the  ambans  of  all  practical  authority.  How 
long  these  feelings  could  have  continued  without  an  open 
outbreak  must  remain  a  matter  of  opinion ;  but  an  unexpected 
event  brought  into  evidence  the  unwarlike  character  of  the 
Tibetans,  and  showed  that  their  country  was  exposed  to 
many  dangers  from  which  only  China's  protection  could 
preserve  them.  In  Kanghi's  time  the  danger  had  come 
from  Di ;  in  the  reign  of  Keen  Lung  it  came  from  the  side 
of  Nepaul. 

As  a  general  rule  the  mighty  chain  of  the  Himalaya  has 
effectually  separated  the  peoples  living  north  and  south  of 
It,  and  the  instances  in  history  are  rare  of  any  collision  be- 
tween them.  Of  all  such  collisions  the  most  important  was 
that  which  has  now  to  be  described  as  the  main  cause  of  the 
tightening  of  the  hold  of  China  upon  Tibet.  The  mountain 
kingdom  of  Nepaul  was  equally  independent  of  the  British 
and  the  Mogul  Empire  of  Delhi.  It  was  ruled  by  three  sep- 
arate kings,  until  in  the  year  1769  the  Goorkha  chief  Prithi 


236  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

Narayan  established  the  supremacy  of  that  warlike  race. 
The  Goorkhas  cared  nothing  for  trade,  and  their  exactions 
resulted  in  the  cessation  of  the  commercial  intercourse  whiob 
had  existed  under  the  Nepaulese  kings  between  India  and 
Tibet.  Their  martial  instincts  led  them  to  carry  on  raids 
into  both  Tibet  and  India.  The  Tibetans  were  unequal  to 
the  task  of  punishing  or  restraining  them,  and  at  last  the 
Goorkhas  were  inspired  with  such  confidence  that  they 
undertook  the  invasion  of  their  country.  It  is  said  that  the 
Goorkhas  were  encouraged  to  take  this  step  by  the  belief  that 
the  Chinese  would  not  interfere,  and  that  the  lamaseries  con- 
tained an  incalculable  amount  of  treasure.  The  Goorkhas 
invaded  Tibet  in  1791  with  an  army  of  less  than  20,000  men, 
and,  advancing  through  the  Kirong  and  Kuti  passes,  over- 
came the  frontier  guards,  and  carried  all  before  them  up  to 
the  town  of  Degarchi,  where  they  plundered  the  famous 
lamasery  of  Teshu  Lumbo,  the  residence  of  the  Teshu  Lama. 
Having  achieved  this  success  and  gratified  their  desire  for 
plunder,  the  Goorkhas  remained  inactive  for  some  weeks, 
and  wasted  much  precious  time.  The  Tibetans  did  not 
attempt  a  resistance,  which  their  want  of  military  skill  and 
their  natural  cowardice  would  have  rendered  futile,  but  they 
sent  express  messengers  to  Pekin  entreating  the  Chinese 
emperor  to  send  an  army  to  their  assistance.  Keen  Lung 
had  not  sent  troops  to  put  a  stop  to  the  raids  committed  on 
the  frontier  by  the  Goorkhas;  but  when  he  heard  that  a  por- 
tion of  his  dominions  was  invaded,  and  that  the  predomi- 
nance of  his  country  in  the  holy  land  of  Buddhism  was  in 
danger,  he  at  once  ordered  his  generals  to  collect  all  the  forces 
they  could  and  to  march  without  delay  to  expel  the  foreign 
invader.  He  may  have  been  urged  to  increased  activity  by 
the  knowledge  that  the  Tibetans  had  also  appealed  for  aid 
to  the  British,  and  by  his  being  ignorant  what  steps  the 
Indian  Government  would  take.  Within  a  very  short  time 
of  the  receipt  of  the  appeal  for  assistance  a  Chinese  army  of 
70,000  men  was  dispatched  into  Tibet,  and  the  Goorkhas, 
awed  by  this  much  larger  force,  began  their  retreat  to  their 


KEEN  LUNG'S    WARS   AND   CONQUESTS.  23 4 

own  country.  Their  march  was  delayed  by  the  magnitude 
of  their  spoil,  and  before  they  had  reached  the  passes  through 
the  Himalaya  the  Chinese  army  had  caught  them  up.  Iu 
the  hope  of  securing  a  safe  retreat  for  his  baggage  and 
booty,  the  Goorkha  commander  drew  up  his  force  in  battle 
array  on  the  plain  of  Tengri  Maidan,  outside  the  northern 
entrance  of  the  Kirong  Pass,  and  the  Chinese  general,  Sund 
Fo,  made  his  dispositions  to  attack  the  Goorkhas;  but  before 
delivering  his  attack  he  sent  a  letter  reciting  the  outrages 
committed,  and  the  terms  n  which  his  imperial  master 
would  grant  peace.  Among  these  were  the  restitution  of 
the  plunder  and  the  surrender  of  the  renegade  lama,  whose 
tales  were  said  to  have  whetted  the  cupidity  of  the  Goorkhas. 
A  haughty  reply  was  sent  back,  and  the  Chinese  were  told 
to  do  their  worst. 

In  the  desperately-contested  battle  which  ensued  the  vic- 
tory was  decisive,  and  the  Goorkha  king  at  once  sued  for 
peace,  which  was  readily  granted,  as  the  Chinese  had  at- 
tained all  their  objects,  and  Sund  Fo  was  beginning  to  be 
anxious  about  his  retreat  owing  to  the  approach  of  winter. 
When,  therefore,  the  Goorkha  embassy  entered  his  camp 
Sund  Fo  granted  terms  which,  although  humiliating,  were 
as  favorable  as  a  defeated  people  could  expect.  The  Goor- 
khas took  an  oath  to  keep  the  peace  toward  their  Tibetan 
neighbors,  to  acknowledge  themselves  the  vassals  of  the 
Chinese  emperor,  to  send  a  quinquennial  embassy  to  China 
with  the  required  tribute,  and,  lastly,  to  restore  all  the  plun- 
der that  had  been  carried  off  from  Teshu  Lumbo.  The 
exact  language  of  this  treaty  has  never  been  published,  but 
its  provisions  have  been  faithfully  kept.  The  Goorkhas  still 
pay  tribute  to  China;  they  have  kept  the  peace  with  one  in- 
significant exception  ever  since  on  the  Tibetan  border;  and 
they  are  correctly  included  among  the  vassals  of  Pekin  at 
the  present  time.  The  gratitude  of  the  Tibetans,  as  well  as 
the  increased  numbers  of  the  Chinese  garrison,  insured  the 
security  of  China's  position  in  Tibet,  and,  as  both  the  Tibe- 
tans and  the  Goorkhas  considered  that  the  English  deserted 


iSS  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA 

them  in  their  hour  of  need,  for  the  latter  when  hard  pressed 
also  appealed  to  us  for  assistance,  China  has  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  effectually  closing  Tibet  to  Indian  trade.  China 
closed  all  the  passes  on  the  Nepaul  frontier,  and  only 
allowed  the  quinquennial  mission  to  enter  by  the  Kirong 
Pass.  Among  all  the  military  feats  of  China  none  is  more 
remarkable  or  creditable  than  the  overthrow  of  tho  Goor- 
khas,  who  are  among  the  bravest  of  Indian  races,  and  who, 
only  twenty  years  after  their  crushing  defeat  by  Sund  Fo, 
gave  the  Anglo-Indian  army  and  one  of  its  best  command- 
ers, Sir  David  Ochterloney,  an  infinity  of  trouble  in  two 
doubtful  and  keenly  contested  campaigns. 

Keen  Lung's  war  in  Formosa  calls  for  only  brief  notice; 
but,  in  concluding  our  notice  of  his  many  military  conquests 
and  campaigns,  some  description  must  be  given  of  the  great 
rising  in  an  island  which  Chinese  writers  have  styled  "the 
natural  home  of  sedition  and  disaffection."  In  the  year 
1786  the  islanders  rose,  slaughtered  the  Tartar  garrisons, 
and  completely  subverted  the  emperor's  authority.  The  re- 
volt was  one  not  on  the  part  of  the  savage  islanders  them* 
selves,  but  of  the  Chinese  colonists,  who  were  goaded  into 
insurrection  by  the  tyranny  of  the  Manchu  officials.  At 
drst  it  did  not  assume  serious  dimensions,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  it  would  pass  over  without  any  general  rising,  when  the 
orders  of  the  Viceroy  of  Fuhkien,  to  which  Formosa  was 
dependent  until  made  a  separate  province  a  few  years  ago, 
fanned  the  fuel  of  disaffection  to  a  flame.  The  popular 
leader  Lang  organized  the  best  government  he  could,  and, 
when  Keen  Lung  offered  to  negotiate,  laid  down  three  con- 
ditions as  the  basis  of  negotiation.  They  were  that  "the 
mandarin  who  had  ordered  the  cruel  measures  of  repres- 
sion should  be  executed,"  that  "ling  personally  should 
never  be  required  to  go  to  Pekin,"  and,  thirdly,  that  "the 
mandarins  should  abandon  their  old  tyrannical  ways." 
Keen  Lung's  terms  were  an  unconditional  surrender  and 
trust  in  his  clemency,  which  Ling,  with  perhaps  the  Miaotze 
incident  fresh  in  his  mind,  refused.  At  first  Keen  Lung  sent 


KEEN  LUNG'S    WARS   AND    CONQUESTS.  839 

numerous  but  detached  expeditions  to  reassert  his  power; 
but  these  were  attacked  in  detail,  and  overwhelmed  by 
Ling.  Keen  Lung  said  that  "his  heart  was  in  suspense 
both  by  night  and  by  day  as  to  the  issue  of  the  war  in 
Formosa";  but,  undismayed .  by  his  reverses,  the  emperor 
sent  100,000  men  under  the  command  of  a  member  of  his 
family  to  crush  the  insurrection.  Complete  success  was  at- 
tained by  weight  of  numbers,  and  Formosa  was  restored  to 
its  proper  position  in  the  empire. 

A  rising  in  Szchuen,  which  may  be  considered  from  some 
of  its  features  the  precursor  of  the  Taeping  Rebellion,  and  the 
firs  toutbreak  of  the  Tungan  Mohammedans  in  the  northwest, 
whom  Keen  Lung  wished  to  massacre,  marked  the  close  of 
this  long  reign,  which  was  rendered  remarkable  by  so  many 
military  triumphs.  The  reputation  of  the  Chinese  empire 
was  raised  to  the  highest  point,  and  maintained  there  by 
the  capacity  and  energy  of  this  ruler.  Within  its  borders 
the  commands  of  the  central  government  were  ungrudg- 
ingly obeyed,  and  beyond  them  foreign  peoples  and  states 
respected  the  rights  of  a  country  that  had  shown  itself  so 
well  able  to  exact  obedience  from  its  dependents  and  to  pre- 
serve the  very  letter  of  its  rights.  The  military  fame  of  the 
Chinese,  which  had  always  been  great  among  Asiatics,  at- 
tained its  highest  point  in  consequence  of  these  numerous 
and  rapidly-succeeding  campaigns.  The  evidences  of  mili- 
tary proficiency,  of  irresistible  determination,  and  of  per- 
sonal valor  not  easily  surpassed,  were  too  many  and  too 
apparent  to  justify  any  in  ignoring  the  solid  claims  of 
China  to  rank  as  the  first  military  country  in  Asia — a  posi- 
tion which,  despite  the  appearance  of  England  and  Russia 
in  that  continent,  she  still  retains,  and  which  must  event- 
ually enable  her  to  exercise  a  superior  voice  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  its  affairs  to  that  of  either  of  her  great  and  at 
present  more  powerful  and  better  prepared  neighbors. 


240  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   COMMENCEMENT   OF  EUROPEAN  INTERCOURSE 

Keen  Lung  was  the  first  Manchu  prince  to  receive  for- 
mal embassies  from  the  sovereigns  of  Europe.  Among  these 
the  Portuguese  were  the  first  in  point  of  time,  although  they 
never  attained  the  advantage  derivable  from  that  priority ; 
and  indeed  the  important  period  of  their  connection  with 
China  may  be  said  to  have  terminated  before  the  Manchus 
had  established  their  authority.  Still,  as  the  tenants  of 
Macao,  the  oldest  European  settlement  in  China  for  more 
than  three  centuries  and  a  half,  their  connection  with  the 
Chinese  government  must  always  possess  some  features  of 
interest  and  originality.  The  Portuguese  paid  their  rent  to 
and  carried  on  all  their  business  with  the  mandarins  at  Can- 
ton, who  lost  no  opportunity  of  squeezing  large  sums  out  of 
the  foreigners,  as  they  were  absolutely  in  their  power.  The 
Portuguese  could  only  pay  with  good  or  bad  grace  the  bribes 
and  extra  duty  demanded  as  the  price  of  their  being  allowed 
to  trade  at  all.  The  power  of  China  seemed  so  overwhelm- 
ing that  they  never  attempted  to  make  any  stand  against  its 
arbitrary  decrees,  and  the  only  mode  they  could  think  of  for 
getting  an  alleviation  of  the  hardships  inflicted  by  the  Can- 
ton authorities  was  to  send  costly  embassies  to  the  Chinese 
capital.  These,  however,  failed  to  produce  any  tangible  re- 
sult. Their  gifts  were  accepted,  and  their  representatives 
were  accorded  a  more  or  less  gratifying  reception ;  but  there 
was  no  mitigation  of  the  severity  shown  by  the  local  man- 
darins, and,  for  all  practical  purposes,  the  money  expended 
on  these  missions  was  as  good  as  thrown  away.  The  Port- 
uguese succeeded  in  obtaining  an  improvement  in  their  lot 
only  by  combining  their  naval  forces  with  those  of  the  Chi* 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  EUROPEAN  INTERCOURSE.      241 

nese  in  punishing  and  checking  the  raids  of  the  pirates,  who 
infested  the  estuary  of  the  Canton  River  known  as  the  Bogue. 
But  they  never  succeeded  in  emancipating  themselves  from 
that  position  of  inferiority  in  which  the  Chinese  have  always 
striven  to  keep  all  foreigners ;  and  if  the  battle  of  European 
enterprise  against  Chinese  exciusiveness  had  been  carried  on 
and  fought  by  the  Portuguese  it  would  have  resulted  in  the 
discomfiture  of  Western  progress  and  enlightenment. 

The  Dutch  sent  an  embassy  to  Pekin  in  1795,  but  it  was 
treated  with  such  contumely  that  it  does  not  reflect  much 
credit  on  those  who  sent  it.  The  Spaniards  never  held  any 
relations  with  the  central  government,  all  their  business 
being  conducted  with  the  Viceroy  of  Fuhkien ;  and  the  suc- 
cessive massacres  of  Manila  completely  excluded  them  from 
any  good  understanding  with  the  Pekin  government.  "With. 
Russia,  China's  relations  have  always  been  different  from 
those  with  the  other  powers,  and  this  is  explained  partly  by 
the  fact  of  neighborship,  and  partly  by  Russia  seeking  only 
her  own  ends,  and  not  advantages  for  the  benefit  of  every 
other  foreign  nation. 

With  France,  the  relations  of  China,  owing  to  a  great 
extent  to  the  efforts  and  influence  of  the  missionaries,  had 
always  been  marked  with  considerable  sympathy  and  even 
cordiality.  The  French  monarchs  had  from  time  to  time 
turned  their  attention  to  promoting  trade  with  China  and 
the  Far  East.  Henry  the  Fourth  sanctioned  a  scheme  with 
this  object,  but  it  came  to  nothing;  and  Colbert  only  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  the  right  for  his  countrymen  to  land 
their  goods  at  Whampoa,  the  river  port  of  Canton.  But 
French  commerce  never  flourished  in  China,  and  a  bold  but 
somewhat  Quixotic  attempt  to  establish  a  trade  between  that 
country  and  the  French  settlements  on  the  Mississippi  failed 
to  achieve  anything  practical.  But  what  the  French  were 
unable  to  attain  in  the  domain  of  commerce  they  succeeded 
in  accomplishing  in  the  region  of  literature.  They  were  the 
first  to  devote  themselves  to  the  study  of  the  Chinese  litera- 
ture and  language,  and  what  we  know  of  the  history  of 

II 


242  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

China  down  to  the  last  century  is  exclusively  due  to  their 
laborious  research  and  painstaking  translations  of  Chinese 
histories  and  annals.  They  made  China  known  to  the  polite 
as  well  as  the  political  world  of  Europe.  Keen  Lung  him- 
self appreciated  and  was  flattered  by  these  efforts.  His 
poetry,  notably  his  odes  on  "Tea,"  and  the  "Eulogy  of 
Moukden"  as  the  cradle  of  his  race,  was  translated  by 
Pere  Amiot,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  Voltaire,  who 
addressed  to  the  emperor  an  epistolary  poem  on  the  re- 
quirements and  difficulties  of  Chinese  versification.  The 
French  thus  rendered  a  material  service  in  making  China 
better  known  to  Europe  and  Europe  better  known  in  China, 
which,  although  it  may  be  hard  to  gauge  precisely,  entitles 
them  still  to  rank  among  those  who  have  opened  up  China 
to  Europeans.  The  history  of  China,  down  to  the  eighteenth 
century  at  least,  could  not  have  been  written  but  for  the 
labors  of  the  French,  of  Mailla,  Du  Halde,  Amiot,  and 
many  others. 

There  remains  only  to  summarize  the  relations  with  the 
English,  who,  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  before 
the  Manchus  had  established  their  supremacy,  possessed 
factories  at  Amoy  and  on  the  island  of  Chusan.  But  their 
trade,  hampered  by  official  exactions,  and  also  by  the  jeah 
ousy  of  the  Portuguese  and  Dutch,  proved  a  slow  growth; 
and  at  Canton,  which  they  soon  discovered  to  be  the  best 
and  most  convenient  outlet  for  the  state,  they  were  more 
hampered  than  anywhere  else,  chiefly  through  the  hostile 
representations  of  the  Portuguese,  who  bribed  the  mandarins 
to  exclude  all  other  foreigners.  The  English  merchants,  like 
the  Portuguese,  believed  that  the  only  way  to  obtain  a  rem- 
edy for  their  grievances  was  by  approaching  the  imperial 
court  and  obtaining  an  audience  with  the  emperor;  but  they 
were  wise  in  not  attempting  to  send  delegates  of  their  own. 
They  saw  that  if  an  impression  was  to  be  created  at  Pekin 
the  embassador  must  come  fully  accredited  by  the  British 
government,  and  not  merely  as  the  representative  of  a  body 
of  merchants  who  were  suppliants  for  commercial  privileges. 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  EUROPEAN  INTERCOURSE.      243 

The  war  with  the  Goorkhas  had  made  the  Chinese  authori- 
ties acquainted  with  the  fact  that  the  English,  who  were 
only  humble  suitors  for  trade  on  the  coast,  were  a  great 
power  in  India.  The  knowledge  of  this  fact  undoubtedly 
created  a  certain  amount  of  curiosity  in  the  mind  of  Keen 
Lung,  and  when  he  heard  that  the  King  of  England  con- 
templated sending  an  embassy  to  his  court  he  gave  every 
encouragement  to  the  suggestion,  and  promised  it  a  wel- 
come and  honorable  reception.  Permission  was  given  it  to 
proceed  to  Pekin,  and  thus  was  a  commencement  made  in 
the  long  story  of  diplomatic  relations  between  England  and 
China,  which  have  at  length  acquired  a  cordial  character. 
As  great  importance  was  attached  to  this  embassy,  every 
care  was  bestowed  on  fitting  it  out  in  a  worthy  manner. 
Colonel  Cathcart  was  selected  as  the  envoy,  but  died  on 
the  eve  of  his  departure,  and  a  successor  was  found  in  the 
person  of  Lord  Macartney,  a  nobleman  of  considerable  at- 
tainments, who  had  been  Governor  of  Madras  two  years 
before.  Sir  George  Staunton,  one  of  the  few  English  sino- 
logues, was  appointed  secretary,  and  several  interpreters 
were  sought  for  and  obtained,  not  without  difficulty.  The 
presents  were  many  and  valuable,  chosen  with  the  double 
object  of  gratifying  the'  emperor  and  impressing  him  with 
the  wealth  and  magnificence  of  the  English  sovereign.  In 
September,  1792 — the  same  month  that  witnessed  the  over- 
throw of  the  Goorkhas  at  Nayakot — the  embassy  sailed 
from  Portsmouth,  but  it  did  not  reach  the  Peiho,  on  which 
Pekin  is  inaccurately  said  to  stand,  until  the  following 
August. 

An  honorable  and  exceedingly  gratifying  reception 
awaited  it.  The  embassador  and  his  suite,  on  landing 
from  the  man-of-war,  were  conducted  with  all  ceremony 
and  courtesy  up  the  Peiho  to  Tientsin,  where  they  received 
what  was  called  the  unusual  honor  of  a  military  salute. 
Visits  were  exchanged  with  the  Viceroy  of  Pechihli  and 
some  of  the  other  high  officials,  and  news  came  down  from 
Pekin  that  "the  emperor  had  shown  some  marks  of  great 


244  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

satisfaction  at  the  news  of  the  arrival  of  the  English  em 
bassador."  Keen  Lung  happened  to  be  residing  at  his 
summer  palace  at  Jehol  beyond  the  Wall,  but  he  sent  per- 
emptory instructions  that  there  was  to  be  no  delay  in  send- 
ing the  English  up  to  Pekin.  Up  to  this  point  all  had  gone 
well,  but  the  anti-foreign  party  began  to  raise  obstructions, 
and,  headed  by  Sund  Fo,  the  conqueror  of  the  Goorkhas,  to 
advise  the  emperor  not  to  receive  the  embassador,  and  to 
reject  all  his  propositions.  Whether  to  strengthen  his  case, 
or  because  he  believed  it  to  be  the  fact,  Sund  Fo  declared 
that  the  English  had  helped  "the  Goorkha  robbers,"  and 
that  he  had  found  among  them  "men  with  hats,"  i.e.,  Eu- 
ropeans, as  well  as  "men  with  turbans."  As  Sund  Fo  way 
the  hero  of  the  day,  and  also  the  viceroy  of  the  Canton 
province,  his  views  carried  great  weight,  and  they  were 
also  of  unfavorable  omen  for  the  future  of  foreign  relations. 
But  for  this  occasion  the  inquisitiveness  of  the  aged  emperor 
prevailed  over  the  views  of  the  majority  in  his  council  and 
also  over  popular  prejudice.  When  the  embassy  had  been 
detained  some  time  at  Pekin,  and  after  it  looked  as  if  a 
period  of  vexatious  delay  was  to  herald  the  discomfiture  of 
the  mission,  such  positive  orders  were  sent  by  Keen  Lung 
for  the  embassy  to  proceed  to  Jehol  that  no  one  dared  to 
disobey  him.  Lord  Macartney  proceeded  to  Jehol  with  his 
suite  and  a  Chinese  guard  of  honor,  and  he  accomplished 
the  journey,  about  one  hundred  miles,  in  an  English  car- 
riage. The  details  of  the  journey  and  reception  are  given 
in  Sir  George  Staunton's  excellent  narrative;  but  here  it 
may  be  said  that  the  emperor  twice  received  the  British  em- 
bassador in  personal  audience  in  a  tent  specially  erected  for 
the  ceremony  in  the  gardens  of  the  palace.  The  embassy 
then  returned  to  Pekin,  and,  as  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli  was 
frozen,  it  was  escorted  by  the  land  route  to  Canton.  On 
this  journey  Lord  Macartney  and  his  party  suffered  consid- 
©rable  inconvenience  and  annoyance  from  the  spite  and  ani- 
mosity of  the  Chinese  inferior  officials;  but  nothing  serious 
occurred  to  mar  what  was  on  the  whole  a  successful  mis- 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  EUROPEAN  INTERCOURSE.      245 

sion.  Keen  Lung  is  said  to  have  wished  to  go  further,  but 
his  official  utterance  was  limited  to  the  reciprocation  of  "the 
friendly  sentiments  of  His  Britannic  Majesty."  His  ad- 
vanced age  and  his  abdication  already  contemplated  left 
him  neither  the  inclination  nor  the  power  to  go  very  closely 
into  the  question  of  the  policy  of  cultivating  closer  relations 
with  the  foreign  people  who  asserted  their  supremacy  on  the 
sea  and  who  had  already  subjugated  one  great  Asiatic  em- 
pire. But  it  may  at  least  be  said  that  he  did  nothing  to 
make  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  question  more  difficult, 
and  his  flattering  reception  of  Lord  Macartney's  embassy 
was  an  important  and  encouraging  a  precedent  for  English 
diplomacy  with  China. 

The  events  of  internal  interest  in  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try during  the  last  twenty  years  of  this  reign  call  for  some 
brief  notice,  although  they  relate  to  comparatively  few  mat- 
ters that  can  be  disentangled  from  the  court  chronicles  and 
official  gazettes  of  the  period.  The  great  floods  of  the 
Hoangho  and  the  destruction  caused  thereby  had  been  a 
national  calamity  from  the  earliest  period.  Keen  Lung, 
filled  with  the  desire  to  crown  his  reign  by  overcoming  it, 
intrusted  the  task  of  dealing  with  this  difficulty  to  Count 
Akoui,  whose  laurels  over  the  Miaotze  had  raised  him  to 
the  highest  position  in  public  popularity  and  his  sovereign's 
confidence.  Keen  Lung  issued  his  personal  instructions  on 
the  subject  in  unequivocal  language.  He  said  in  his  edict, 
"My  intention  is  that  this  work  should  be  unceasingly  car- 
ried on,  in  order  to  secure  for  the  people  a  solid  advantage 
both  for  the  present  and  in  the  time  to  come.  Share  my 
views,  and  in  order  to  accomplish  them,  forget  nothing  in 
the  carrying  out  of  your  project,  which  I  regard  as  my 
own,  since  I  entirely  approve  of  it,  and  the  idea  which 
originated  it  was  mine.  For  the  rest,  it  is  at  my  own 
charge,  and  not  at  the  cost  of  the  province,  that  I  wish  all 
this  to  be  done.  Let  expenses  not  be  stinted.  I  take  upon 
myself  the  consequences,  whatever  they  may  be."  Akoui 
threw  himself  into  his  great  task  with  energy,  and  it  is 


246  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA; 

said  that  he  succeeded  in  no  small  degree  in  controlling  the 
waters  and  restricting  their  ravages.  We  are  ignorant  of 
the  details  of  his  work,  but  it  may  certainly  be  said  that  the 
Hoangho  has  done  less  damage  since  Akoui  carried  out  his 
scheme  than  it  had  effected  before.  The  question  is  still 
unsolved,  and  probably  there  is  no  undertaking  in  which 
China  would  benefit  more  from  the  engineering  science  of 
Europe  than  this,  if  the  Chinese  government  were  to  seri- 
ously devote  its  attention  to  a  matter  that  affects  many  mil- 
lions of  people  and  some  of  the  most  important  provinces  of 
the  empire. 

A  great  famine  about  the  same  period  is  chiefly  remark- 
able for  the  persecution  it  entailed  on  the  Christian  mission- 
aries and  those  among  the  Chinese  themselves  professing 
the  foreign  religion.  The  cause  of  this  scarcity  was  mainly 
due  to  the  extraordinary  growth  of  the  population,  which 
had  certainly  doubled  in  fifty  years,  and  which,  according 
to  the  official  censuses,  had  risen  from  sixty  millions  in  1735 
to  three  hundred  millions  in  1792.  Of  course  the  larger  part 
of  this  increase  was  due  to  the  expansion  of  the  empire  and 
the  consolidation  of  the  Manchu  authority.  So  great  was 
the  national  suffering  that  the  gratuitous  distribution  of 
grain  and  other  supplies  at  the  cost  of  the  state  provided 
but  a  very  partial  remedy  for  the  evil,  which  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  peculation  of  the  mandarins,  and  the  evidence 
of  the  few  European  witnesses  shows  that  the  horrors  of 
this  famine  have  seldom  been  surpassed.  The  famine  was 
laid  to  the  charge  of  the  Christians,  and  a  commission  of 
mandarins  drew  up  a  formal  indictment  of  Christianity, 
which  has  stood  its  ground  ever  since  as  the  text  of  the 
argument  of  the  anti -foreign  school.  It  read  as  follows: 
"We  have  examined  into  the  European  religion  (or  the  doc- 
trine) of  the  Lord  of  Heaven,  and  although  it  ought  not  to 
be  compared  with  other  different  sects,  which  are  absolutely 
wicked,  yet,  and  that  is  what  we  lay  to  its  blame,  it  has  had 
the  audacity  to  introduce  itself,  to  promulgate  itself,  and  to 
establish  itself  in  secret.     No  permission  has  ever  been  given 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  EUROPEAN  INTERCOURSE.      247 

to  the  people  of  this  country  to  embrace  it.  Nay,  the  laws 
have  absolutely  long  forbidden  its  adoption.  And  now  all 
these  criminals  have  had  the  boldness  to  come,  all  of  a  sud- 
den, into  our  kingdom,  to  establish  their  bishops  and  priests 
in  order  to  seduce  the  people !  This  is  why  it  is  necessary 
to  extinguish  this  religion  by  degrees  and  to  prevent  its  mul- 
tiplying its  votaries."  The  fury  of  the  Chinese,  fortunately, 
soon  exhausted  itself;  and  although  many  Europeans  were 
injured  none  lost  their  lives,  but  several  thousand  native 
converts  were  branded  on  the  face  and  sent  to  colonize  the 
Di  valley. 

"While  Lord  Macartney  was  at  Pekin  it  was  known  that 
the  emperor  contemplated  abdicating  when  he  had  completed 
the  sixtieth  year  of  his  reign — the  cycle  of  Chinese  chronology 
— because  he  did  not  desire  his  reign  to  be  of  greater  length 
than  that  of  his  illustrious  grandfather,  Kanghi.  This  date 
was  reached  in  1796,  when  on  New  Year's  day  (6th  of  Feb- 
ruary) of  the  Chinese  calendar,  he  publicly  abdicated,  and 
assigned  the  imperial  functions  to  his  son,  Kiaking.  He 
survived  this  event  three  years,  and  during  that  period  he 
exercised,  like  Charles  the  Fifth  of  Germany,  a  controlling 
influence  over  his  son's  administration ;  and  he  endeavored 
to  inculcate  in  him  the  right  principles  of  sound  government. 
But  in  China,  where  those  principles  have  been  expressed  in 
the  noblest  language,  their  practical  application  is  diiHcult, 
because  the  official  classes  are  underpaid  and  because  the 
law  of  self-preservation,  as  well  as  custom,  compels  them  to 
pay  themselves  at  the  equal  expense  of  the  subjects  and  the 
government.  Even  Keen  Lung  had  been  unable  to  grapple 
with  this  difficulty  of  the  Chinese  civil  service,  which  is  as 
formidable  at  the  present  time  as  ever.  One  of  the  ablest 
and  most  honest  of  Keen  Lung's  ministers,  when  questioned 
on  the  subject,  said  that  there  was  no  remedy.  "It  is  im- 
possible, the  emperor  himself  cannot  do  it,  the  evil  is  too 
widespread.  He  will,  no  doubt,  send  to  the  scene  of  these 
disorders  mandarins,  clothed  with  all  his  authority,  but  they 
will  only  commit  still  greater  exactions,  and  the  inferior 


248  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

mandarins,  in  order  to  be  left  undisturbed,  will  offer  them 
presents.  The  emperor  will  be  told  that  all  is  well,  while 
everything  is  really  wrong,  and  while  the  poor  people  are 
being  oppressed."  And  so  the  vicious  circle  has  gone  on  to 
the  present  day,  with  serious  injury  to  the  state  and  the 
people.  When  Keen  Lung  had  the  chanoe  of  bringing 
matters  under  his  own  personal  control  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  exercise  his  right  and  power,  and  all  capital  punishments 
were  carried  out  at  the  capital  only  after  he  had  examined 
into  each  case.  It  is  declared  that  he  always  tempered 
justice  with  mercy,  and  that  none  but  the  worst  offenders 
suffered  death.  Transportation  to  Ili,  which  he  wished  to 
develop,  was  his  favorite  form  of  punishment. 

To  the  end  of  his  life  Keen  Lung  retained  the  active 
habits  which  had  characterized  his  youth.  Much  of  his 
official  work  was  carried  on  at  an  early  hour  of  the  morn- 
ing, and  it  surprised  many  Europeans  to  find  the  aged  ruler 
so  keen  and  eager  for  business  at  these  early  conferences. 
His  vigor  was  attributed  by  competent  observers  to  the 
active  life  and  physical  exercises  common  among  the  Tar- 
tars. It  will  be  proper  to  give  a  description  of  the  personal 
appearance  of  this  great  prince.  A  missionary  thus  de- 
scribed him:  "He  is  tall  and  well  built.  He  has  a  very 
gracious  countenance,  but  capable  at  the  same  time  of  in- 
spiring respect.  If  in  regard  to  his  subjects  he  employs  a 
great  severity,  I  believe  it  is  less  from  the  promptings  of 
his  character  than  from  the  necessity  which  would  other- 
wise not  render  him  capable  of  keeping  within  the  bounds 
of  dependence  and  duty  two  empires  so  vast  as  China  and 
Tartary.  Therefore  the  greatest  tremble  in  his  presence. 
On  all  the  occasions  when  he  has  done  me  the  honor  to 
address  me  it  has  been  with  a  gracious  air  that  inspired 
me  with  the  courage  to  appeal  to  him  in  behalf  of  our  re- 
ligion. .  .  .  He  is  a  truly  great  prince,  doing  and  seeing 
everything  for  himself."  Keen  Lung  survived  his  abdica- 
tion about  three  years,  dying  on  the  8th  of  February,  1799 — 
which  also  happened  to  be  the  Chinese  New  Year's  day. 


THE   DECLINE    OF    THE    MAXCHUS.  249 

With  the  death  of  Keen  Lung  the  vigor  of  China  reached 
a  term,  and  just  as  the  progress  had  been  consistent  and 
rapid  during  the  space  of  150  years,  so  now  will  its  down- 
ward course  be  not  less  marked  or  swift,  until,  in  the  very- 
hour  of  apparent  dissolution,  the  empire  will  find  safety  in 
the  valor  and  probity  of  an  English  officer,  Charles  George 
Gordon,  and  in  the  ability  and  resolution  of  the  empress- 
regents  and  their  two  great  soldier-statesmen,  Li  Hung 
Chang  and  Tso  Tsung  Tang. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE   DECLINE   OP  THE   MANCHUS 

The  favorable  opinion  which  his  father  had  held  of  Kia- 
king  does  not  seem  to  have  been  shared  by  all  his  ministers. 
The  most  prominent  of  them  all,  Hokwan,  who  held  to  Keen 
Lung  the  relation  that  Wolsey  held  to  Henry  the  Eighth, 
soon  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  the  new  emperor,  and  was 
called  upon  to  account  for  his  charge  of  the  finances.  The 
favor  and  the  age  of  Keen  Lung  left  Hokwan  absolutely 
without  control,  and  the  minister  turned  his  opportunities  to 
such  account  that  he  amassed  a  private  fortune  of  eighty  mil- 
lion taels,  or  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  million 
dollars.  He  was  indicted  for  peculation  shortly  after  the 
death  of  Keen  Lung,  and,  without  friends,  he  succumbed  to 
the  attack  of  his  many  enemies  incited  to  attack  him  by  the 
greed  of  Kiaking.  But  the  amount  of  his  peculations  amply 
justified  his  punishment,  and  Kiaking  in  signing  his  death 
warrant  could  not  be  accused  of  harshness  or  injustice. 
The  execution  of  Hokwan  restored  some  of  his  ill-gotten 
wealth  to  the  state,  and  served  as  a  warning  to  other  offi- 
cials; but  as  none  could  hope  to  enjoy  his  opportunities,  it 
did  not  act  as  a  serious  deterrent  upon  the  mass  of  the  Chi- 
nese civil  service.  If  arraigned,  they  might  have  justified 
their  conduct  by  the  example  of  their  sovereign,  who,  in- 


250  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

stead  of  devoting  the  millions  of  Hokwan  to  the  necessities 
of  the  state,  employed  them  on  his  own  pleasure,  and  in  a 
lavish  palace  expenditure. 

The  Portuguese  were  the  tenants,  as  has  previously  been 
stated,  of  Macao,  for  which  they  paid  an  annual  rent  to  the 
Chinese ;  but  the  nature  of  their  tenure  was  not  understood 
in  Europe,  where  Macao  was  considered  a  Portuguese  pos- 
session.    During  the  progress  of  the  great  European  strug- 
gle, the  French,  as  part  of  one  of  their  latest  schemes  for 
regaining  their  position  in  the  East,  conceived  the  idea  of 
taking  possession  of  Macao;   but  while  they  were  contem- 
plating  the  enterprise,  an   English  squadron  had  accom- 
plished it,  and  during  the  year  1802  Macao  was  garrisoned 
by  an  English  force.     The  Treaty  of  Amiens  provided  for 
its  restoration  to  Portugal,  and  the  incident  closed,  chiefly 
because  the  period  of  occupation  was  brief,  without  the  Chi- 
nese being  drawn  into  the  matter,  or  without  the  true  nature 
of  the  Portuguese  hold  on  Macao  being  explained.     The  exi- 
gencies of  war  unfortunately  compelled  the  re-occupation  of 
Macoa  six  years  later,  when  the  indignation  of  the  Chinese 
authorities  at  the  violation  of  their  territory  fully  revealed 
itself.     Peremptory  orders  were  sent  to  the  Canton  authori- 
ties from  Pekin  to  expel  the  foreigners  at  all  costs.     The 
government  of  India  was  responsible  for  what  was  a  dis- 
tinct blunder  in  our  political  relations  with  China.     In  1808, 
when  alarm  at  Napoleon's  schemes  was  at  its  height,  it  sent 
Admiral  Drury  and  a  considerable  naval  force  to  occupy 
Macao.     The  Chinese  at  once  protested,  withheld  supplies, 
refused  to  hold  any  intercourse  with  that  commander,  and 
threatened  the  English  merchants  at  Lintin  with  the  com- 
plete suspension  of  the  trade.     In  his  letter  of  rebuke  the 
chief  mandarin  at  Canton  declared  that,  "as  long  as  there 
remained  a  single  soldier  at  Macao,"  he  would  not  allow 
any  trade  to  be  carried  on,  and  threatened  to  "block  up  the 
entrance  to  Macao,  cut  off  your  provisions,  and  send  an 
army  to  surround  you,  when  repentance  would  be  too  late." 
The  English  merchants  were  in  favor  of  compliance  with 


THE   DECLINE    OF   THE   MANCHUS.  251 

the  Chinese  demands,  but  Admiral  Drury  held  a  very  ex- 
alted opinion  of  his  own  power  and  a  corresponding  con- 
tempt for  the  Chinese.  He  declared  that,  as  "there  was 
nothing  in  his  instructions  to  prevent  his  going  to  war  with 
the  Emperor  of  China, ' '  he  would  bring  the  Canton  officials 
to  reason  by  force.  He  accordingly  assembled  all  his  avail- 
able forces,  and  proceeded  up  the  river  at  the  head  of  a 
strong  squadron  of  boats  with  the  avowed  intention  of  forc- 
ing his  way  up  to  the  provincial  capital.  On  their  side  the 
Chinese  made  every  preparation  to  defend  the  passage,  and 
they  blocked  the  navigation  of  the  river  with  a  double  line 
of  junks,  while  the  Bogue  forts  were  manned  by  all  the 
troops  of  the  province.  When  Admiral  Drury  came  in  sight 
of  these  defenses,  which  must  have  appeared  formidable  to 
him,  he  hesitated,  and  instead  of  delivering  his  attack  he 
sent  a  letter  requesting  an  interview  with  the  mandarin, 
again  threatening  to  force  his  way  up  to  Canton.  But  the 
Chinese  had  by  this  time  taken  the  measure  of  the  English 
commander,  and  they  did  not  even  condescend  to  send  him 
a  reply;  when  Admiral  Drury,  submitting  to  their  insult, 
hastily  beat  a  retreat.  On  several  subsequent  occasions  he 
renewed  his  threats,  and  even  sailed  up  the  Bogue,  but  al- 
ways retreated  without  firing  a  shot.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  the  Chinese  were  inflated  with  pride  and  confidence  by 
the  pusillanimous  conduct  of  the  English  officer,  or  that 
they  should  erect  a  pagoda  at  Canton  in  honor  of  the  defeat 
of  the  English  fleet.  After  these  inglorious  incidents  Ad- 
miral Drury  evacuated  Macao  and  sailed  for  India,  leaving 
the  English  merchants  to  extricate  themselves  as  well  as 
they  could  from  the  embarrassing  situation  in  which  his 
hasty  and  blundering  action  had  placed  them.  If  the  offi- 
cials at  Canton  had  not  been  as  anxious  for  their  own  selfish 
ends  that  the  trade  should  go  on  as  the  foreign  merchants 
themselves,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  views  of  the  ultra 
school  at  Pekin,  who  wished  all  intercourse  with  foreigners 
interdicted,  would  have  prevailed.  But  the  Hoppo  and  his 
associates  were  the  real  friends  of  the  foreigner,  and  opened 


252  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

the  back  door  to  foreign  commerce  at  the  very  moment  that 
they  were  signing  edicts  denouncing  it  as  a  national  evil 
and  misfortune. 

The  Macartney  mission  had  attracted  what  may  be  called 
the  official  attention  of  the  British  government  to  the  Chi- 
nese question,  and  the  East  India  Company,  anxious  to  ac- 
quire fresh  privileges  to  render  that  trade  more  valuable, 
exercised  all  its  influence  to  sustain  that  attention.  On  its 
representations  a  costly  present  was  sent  to  Sung  Tajin,  one 
of  the  ablest  and  most  enlightened  of  all  the  Chinese  officials 
who  had  shown  cordiality  to  Lord  Macartney,  but  the  step 
was  ill-advised  and  had  unfortunate  consequences.  The 
present,  on  reaching  Pekin,  was  returned  to  Canton  with  a 
haughty  message  that  a  minister  of  the  emperor  dare  not 
even  see  a  present  from  a  foreign  ruler.  The  publicity  of 
the  act  rather  than  the  offer  of  a  present  must  be  deemed 
the  true  cause  of  this  unqualified  rejection,  but  the  return 
of  the  present  was  not,  unfortunately,  the  worst  part  of  the 
matter.  The  Emperor  Kiaking  sent  a  letter  couched  in  lofty 
language  to  George  the  Third,  declaring  that  he  had  taken 
such  British  subjects  as  were  in  China  under  his  protection, 
and  that  there  was  "no  occasion  for  the  exertions  of  your 
Majesty's  Government."  The  advice  of  the  Minister  Sung, 
who  was  suspected  of  sympathy  with  the  foreigners,  was 
much  discredited,  and  from  a  position  of  power  and  influ- 
ence he  gradually  sank  into  one  of  obscurity  and  impotence. 
This  was  especially  unfortunate  at  a  moment  when  several 
foreign  powers  were  endeavoring  to  obtain  a  footing  at 
Pekin.  The  Russian  emperor,  wishing  no  doubt  to  emulate 
the  English,  sent,  in  1805,  an  imposing  embassy  under 
Count  Goloyken  to  the  Chinese  capital.  The  presents 
were  rich  and  numerous,  for  the  express  purpose  of  im- 
pressing the  Chinese  ruler  with  the  superior  wealth  and 
power  of  Russia  over  other  European  states,  and  great 
hopes  were  entertained  that  Count  Goloyken  would  estab- 
lish a  secure  diplomatic  base  at  Pekin.  The  embassy 
reached   Kalgan  on   the   Great   Wall  in  safety,  but  there 


THE  DECLINE   OF   THE  MANCHUS.  253 

it  was  detained  until  reference  had  been  made  to  the  cap- 
ital. The  instructions  came  back  that  the  Russian  envoy 
would  only  be  received  in  audience  provided  he  would  per- 
form the  kotow,  or  prostration  ceremony,  and  that  if  he 
would  not  promise  to  do  this  he  was  not  to  be  allowed 
through  the  Wall.  Count  Goloyken  firmly  refused  to  give 
this  promise,  and  among  other  arguments  he  cited  the  ex- 
emption accorded  to  Lord  Macartney.  The  Chinese  re- 
mained firm  in  their  purpose,  Count  Goloyken  was  informed 
that  his  visit  had  been  prolonged  too  far,  and  the  most  bril- 
liant of  all  Russian  embassies  to  China  had  to  retrace  its 
steps  without  accomplishing  any  of  its  objects.  This  was 
not  the  only  rebuff  Russia  experienced  at  this  time.  The 
naval  officer  Krusenstern  conceived  the  idea  that  it  would 
be  possible  to  attain  all  the  objects  of  his  sovereign,  and  to 
open  up  a  new  channel  for  a  profitable  trade,  by  establishing 
communications  by  sea  with  Canton,  where  the  Russian 
flag  had  never  been  seen.  The  Russian  government  fitted 
out  two  ships  for  him,  and  he  safely  arrived  at  Canton, 
where  he  disposed  of  their  cargoes.  When  it  became  known 
at  Pelrin  that  a  new  race  of  foreigners  had  presented  them- 
selves at  Canton,  a  special  edict  was  issued  ordering  that 
"all  vessels  belonging  to  any  other  nation  than  those  which 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  visiting  this  port  shall  on  no  ac- 
count whatever  be  permitted  to  trade,  but  merely  suffered 
10  remain  in  port  until  every  circumstance  is  reported  to  us 
and  our  pleasure  made  known."  Thus  in  its  first  attempt 
to  add  to  its  possession  of  a  land  trade,  via  Kiachta  and  the 
Mongol  steppe,  a  share  in  the  sea  trade  with  Canton,  Russia 
experienced  a  rude  and  discouraging  rebuff. 

The  unsatisfactory  state  of  our  relations  with  the  Chinese 
government,  which  was  brought  home  to  the  British  authori- 
ties by  the  difficulty  our  ships  of  war  experienced  in  obtain- 
ing water  and  other  necessary  supplies  on  the  China  coast, 
which  had  generally  to  be  obtained  by  force,  led  to  the  de- 
cision that  another  embassy  should  be  sent  to  Pekm,  for  the 
purpose  of  effecting  a  better  understanding. 


25*  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

Lord  Amherst,  who  was  specially  selected  for  the  mis- 
sion on  account  of  his  diplomatic  experience,  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Peiho  in  August,  1816.  When  the  embassy 
reached  Pekin,  the  Emperor  Kiaking's  curiosity  to  see  the 
foreigners  overcame  his  political  resolutions,  and  with  the 
natural  resolve  of  an  irresponsible  despot  to  gratify  his  wish 
without  regard  to  the  convenience  of  others,  he  determined 
to  see  them  at  once,  and  ordered  that  Lord  Amherst  and  his 
companions  should  be  brought  forthwith  into  his  presence. 
This  sudden  decision  was  most  disconcerting  to  his  own 
ministers,  who  had  practically  decided  that  no  audience 
should  be  granted  unless  Lord  Amherst  performed  the 
kotow,  and  especially  to  his  brother-in-law  Ho  Koong 
Yay,  who,  at  the  emperor's  repeated  wish  to  see  the 
English  representatives,  was  compelled  to  abandon  his 
own  schemes  and  to  remove  all  restrictions  to  the  audi- 
ence. The  firmness  of  Lord  Amherst  was  unexpected  and 
misunderstood.  Ho  Koong  Yay  repeated  his  invitation 
several  times,  and  even  resorted  to  entreaty ;  but  when  the 
Chinese  found  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  they  changed 
their  tone,  and  the  infuriated  Kiaking  ordered  that  the  em 
bassador  and  his  suite  should  not  be  allowed  to  remain  at 
Pekin,  and  that  they  should  be  sent  back  to  the  coast  at 
once.  Thus  ignominiously  ended  the  Amherst  mission, 
which  was  summarily  dismissed,  and  hurried  back  to  the 
coast  in  a  highly-inconvenient  and  inglorious  manner.  In  a 
letter  to  the  Prince  Regent,  Kiaking  suggested  that  it  would 
not  be  necessary  for  the  British  government  to  send  another 
embassy  to  China.  He  took  some  personal  satisfaction  out 
of  his  disappointment  by  depriving  Ho  Koong  Yay  of  all  his 
offices,  and  mulcting  him  in  five  years  of  his  pay  as  an  im- 
perial duke.  The  cause  of  his  disgrace  was  expressly  stated 
to  be  the  mismanagement  of  the  relations  with  the  English 
embassador  and  the  suppression  of  material  facts  from  the 
emperor's  knowledge.  Sung  Tajin,  who  had  been  specially 
recalled  from  his  governorship  in  Hi  to  take  part  in  the  re- 
ception of  the  Europeans,  and  whose  sympathy  for  them 


THE   DECLINE   OF   THE   MANCHUS.  255 

was  well  known,  was  also  disgraced,  and  did  not  recover 
his  position  until  after  the  death  of  Kiaking.  The  failure 
of  the  Amherst  mission  put  an  end  to  all  schemes  for  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  Pekin  until  another  generation  had 
passed  away ;  but  the  facts  of  the  case  show  that  its  failure 
was  not  altogether  due  to  the  hostility  of  the  Chinese  em- 
peror. No  practical  results,  in  all  probability,  would  have 
followed;  but  if  Lord  Amherst  had  gone  somewhat  out  of 
his  way  to  humor  the  Chinese  autocrat,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  he  would  have  been  received  in  audience  without  any 
humiliating  conditions. 

Long  before  the  Amherst  mission  reached  China  evidence 
had  been  afforded  that  there  were  many  elements  of  disorder 
in  that  country,  and  that  a  dangerous  feeling  of  dissatisfac- 
tion was  seething  below  the  surface.  The  Manchus,  even 
in  their  moments  of  greatest  confidence,  had  always  dis- 
trusted the  loyalty  of  their  Chinese  subjects,  and  there  is  no 
dispute  that  one  of  their  chief  reasons  for  pursuing  an  exclud- 
ing policy  toward  Europeans  was  the  fear  that  they  might 
tamper  with  the  mass  of  their  countrymen.  What  had  been 
merely  a  sentiment  under  the  great  rulers  of  the  eighteenth 
century  became  an  absolute  conviction  when  Kiaking  found 
himself  the  mark  of  conspirators  and  assassins.  The  first 
of  the  plots  to  which  he  nearly  fell  a  victim  occurred  at  such 
an  early  period  of  his  reign  that  it  could  not  be  attributed  to 
popular  discontent  at  his  misgovernment.  In  1803,  only 
four  years  after  the  death  of  Keen  Lung,  Kiaking,  while 
passing  through  the  streets  of  his  capital  in  his  chair,  carried 
by  coolie  bearers,  was  attacked  by  a  party  of  conspirators, 
members  of  one  of  the  secret  societies,  and  narrowly  escaped 
with  his  life.  His  eunuch  attendants  showed  considerable 
devotion  and  courage,  and  in  the  struggle  several  were  killed ; 
but  they  succeeded  in  driving  off  the  would-be  assassins. 
The  incident  caused  great  excitement,  and  much  consterna- 
tion in  the  imperial  palace,  where  it  was  noted  that  out  of 
the  crowds  in  the  streets  only  six  persons  came  forward  to 
help  the  sovereign  in  the  moment  of  danger.     After  this  the 


250  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

emperor  gave  up  his  practice  of  visiting  the  outer  city  of 
Pekin,  and  confined  himself  to  the  imperial  city,  and  still 
more  to  the  Forbidden  palace  which  is  situated  within  it. 
But  even  here  he  could  not  enjoy  the  sense  of  perfect 
security,  for  the  discovery  was  made  that  this  attempted 
assassination  was  part  of  an  extensive  plot  with  ramifica- 
tions into  the  imperial  family  itself.  Inquisitorial  inquiries 
were  made,  which  resulted  in  the  disgrace  and  punishment 
of  many  of  the  emperor's  relatives,  and  thus  engendered  an 
amount  of  suspicion  and  a  sense  of  insecurity  that  retained 
unabated  force  as  long  as  Kiaking  filled  the  throne.  That 
there  was  ample  justification  for  this  apprehension  the  sec- 
ond attempt  on  the  person  of  the  emperor  clearly  revealed. 
"Whatever  dangers  the  emperor  might  be  exposed  to  in  the 
streets  of  Pekin,  where  the  members  of  the  hated  and  dreaded 
secret  societies  had  as  free  access  as  himself,  it  was  thought 
that  he  could  feel  safe  in  the  interior  of  the  Forbidden  city — 
a  palace-fortress  within  the  Tartar  quarter  garrisoned  by  a 
large  force,  and  to  which  admission  was  only  permitted  to 
a  privileged  few.  Strict  as  the  regulations  were  at  all  times, 
the  attempt  on  Kiaking  and  the  rumors  of  sedition  led  un- 
doubtedly to  their  being  enforced  with  greater  rigor,  and 
it  seemed  incredible  for  any  attempt  to  be  made  on  the 
person  of  the  emperor  except  by  the  mutiny  of  his  guards 
or  an  open  rebellion.  Yet  it  was  precisely  at  this  moment 
that  an  attack  was  made  on  the  emperor  in  his  own  private 
apartments  which  nearly  proved  successful,  and  which  he 
nimself  described  as  an  attack  under  the  elbow.  In  the  year 
1813  a  band  of  conspirators,  some  two  hundred  in  number, 
made  their  way  into  the  palace,  either  by  forcing  one  of  the 
gates,  or,  more  probably,  by  climbing  the  walls  at  an  un- 
guarded spot,  and,  overpowering  the  few  guards  they  met, 
some  of  them  forced  their  way  into  the  presence  of  the  em- 
peror. There  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  Kiaking  would  then 
have  fallen  but  for  the  unexpected  valor  of  his  son  Prince 
Meenning,  afterward  the  Emperor  Taoukwang,  who,  snatch- 
ing up  a  gun,  shot  two  of  the  intruders.     This  prince  had 


THE    DECLINE    OF    THE   MAM'HUS.  25? 

been  set  down  as  a  harmless,  inoffensive  student,  but  his 
prompt  action  on  this  occasion  excited  general  admiration, 
and  Kiaking,  grateful  for  his  life,  at  once  proclaimed  him 
his  heir. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  reign,  and  very  soon  after  the 
departure  of  Lord  Amherst,  Kiaking  was  brought  face  to 
face  with  a  very  serious  conspiracy,  or  what  he  thought 
to  be  such,  among  the  princes  of  the  Manchu  imperial 
family.  By  an  ordinance  passed  by  Chuntche  all  the  de- 
scendants of  that  prince's  father  were  declared  entitled  to 
wear  a  yellow  girdle  and  to  receive  a  pension  from  the  state; 
while,  with  a  view  to  prevent  their  becoming  a  danger  to 
the  dynasty,  they  were  excluded  from  civil  or  military 
employment,  and  assigned  to  a  life  of  idleness.  This  im- 
perial colony  was,  and  is  still,  one  of  the  most  peculiar  and 
least  understood  of  the  departments  of  the  Tartar  govern- 
ment; and  although  it  has  served  its  purpose  in  preventing 
dynastic  squabbles,  there  must  always  remain  the  doubt  as 
to  how  far  the  dynasty  has  been  injured  by  the  loss  of  the 
services  of  so  many  of  its  members  who  might  have  possessed 
useful  capacity.  They  purchased  the  right  to  an  easy  and 
unlaborious  existence,  with  free  quarters  and  a  small  income 
guaranteed,  at  the  heavy  price  of  exclusion  from  the  public 
service.  No  matter  how  great  their  ambition  or  natural 
capability,  they  had  no  prospect  of  emancipating  themselves 
from  the  dull  sphere  of  inaction  to  which  custom  relegated 
them.  Toward  the  close  of  Kiaking's  reign  the  number  of 
these  useless  Yellow  Girdles  had  risen  to  several  thousand, 
and  the  emperor,  alarmed  by  the  previous  attacks,  or  having 
some  reason  to  fear  a  fresh  plot,  adopted  strenuous  measures 
against  them.  Whether  the  emperor's  apprehensions  over- 
came his  reason,  or  whether  there  were  among  his  kinsmen 
some  men  of  more  than  average  ability,  it  is  certain  that  the 
princes  of  the  Manchu  family  were  goaded  or  incited  into 
what  amounted  to  rebellion.  The  exact  particulars  remain 
unknown  until  the  dynastic  history  sees  the  light  of  day; 
but  it  is  known  that  many  of  them  were  executed,  and  that 


258  A   SHORT   HISTORl     OF   CHINA. 

many  hundreds  of  them  were  banished  to  Manchuria,  where 
they  were  given  employment  in  taking  care  of  the  ancestral 
tombs  of  the  ruling  family. 

Special  significance  was  given  to  these  intrigues  and 
palace  plots  by  the  remarkable  increase  in  the  number  and 
the  confidence  of  the  secret  societies  which,  in  some  form  or 
other,  have  been  a  feature  of  Chinese  public  life  from  an 
early  period.  Had  they  not  furnished  evidence  by  their  in- 
creased numbers  and  daring  of  the  dissatisfaction  prevalent 
among  the  Chinese  masses,  whether  on  account  of  the  hard- 
ships of  their  lot,  or  from  hatred  of  their  Tartar  lords,  they 
would  scarcely  have  created  so  much  apprehension  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Emperor  Kiaking,  whose  authority  met  with 
no  open  opposition,  and  whose  reign  was  nominally  one  of 
both  internal  and  external  peace.  These  secret  societies 
have  always  been,  in  the  form  of  fraternal  confederacies 
and  associations,  a  feature  in  Chinese  life;  but  during  the 
present  century  they  have  acquired  an  importance  they  could 
never  previously  claim,  both  in  China  and  among  Chinese 
colonies  abroad.  The  first  secret  society  to  become  famous 
was  that  of  the  Water-Lily,  or  Pe-leen-keaou,  which  associa- 
tion chose  as  its  emblem  and  title  the  most  popular  of  all 
plants  in  China.  Although  the  most  famous  of  the  socie- 
ties, and  the  one  which  is  regarded  as  the  parent  of  all  that 
have  come  after  it,  the  Water-Lily  had,  as  a  distinct  organi- 
sation, a  very  brief  existence.  Its  organizers  seem  to  have 
dropped  the  name,  or  to  have  allowed  it  to  sink  into  dis- 
use in  consequence  of  the  strenuous  official  measures  taken 
against  the  society  by  the  government  for  the  attempt,  in 
1803,  on  Kiaking's  life  in  the  streets  of  Pekin.  They  merged 
themselves  into  the  widely-extended  confederacy  of  the 
Society  of  Celestial  Reason— the  Theen-te-Hwuy  —  which 
became  better  known  by  the  title  given  to  it  by  Europeans 
of  the  Triads,  from  their  advocacy  of  the  union  between 
Heaven,  earth,  and  man.  The  Water-Lily  Society,  before 
it  was  dissolved,  caused  serious  disturbances  in  both  Shan 
tung  and  Szchuen,  and  especially  in  the  latter  province. 


THE   DECLINE   OF    THE   MANCHUS.  259 

where  the  disbanded  army  that  had  rescued  Tibet  and  pun* 
ished  the  Goorkhas  furnished  the  material  for  sedition.  With 
more  or  less  difficulty,  and  at  a  certain  expense  of  life,  these 
risings  were  suppressed,  and  Kiaking's  authority  was  ren- 
dered secure  against  these  assailants,  while  for  his  successors 
was  left  the  penalty  of  feeling  the  full  force  of  the  national 
indignation  of  which  their  acts  were  the  expression. 

With  regard  to  the  organization  of  these  secret  societies, 
which  probably  remain  unchanged  to  the  present  day,  China 
had  nothing  to  learn  from  Europe  either  as  to  the  objects  to 
be  obtained  in  this  way  or  as  to  how  men  are  to  be  bound 
together  by  solemn  vows  for  the  attainment  of  illegal  ends. 
By  signs  known  only  to  themselves,  and  by  pass- words,  these 
sworn  conspirators  could  recognize  their  members  in  the 
crowded  streets,  and  could  communicate  with  each  other 
without  exciting  suspicion  as  to  their  being  traitors  at  heart. 
In  its  endeavors  to  cope  with  this  formidable  and  widespread 
organization  under  different  names,  Kiaking's  government 
found  itself  placed  at  a  serious  disadvantage.  Without  an 
exact  knowledge  of  the  intentions  or  resources  of  its  secret 
enemies,  it  failed  to  grapple  with  them,  and,  as  its  sole  rem- 
edy, it  could  only  decree  that  proof  of  membership  carried 
with  it  the  penalty  of  death. 

During  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Kiaking  the  secret 
societies  rather  threatened  future  trouble  than  constituted  a 
positive  danger  to  the  state.  They  were  compelled  to  keep 
quiet  and  to  confine  their  attention  to  increasing  their  num- 
bers rather  than  to  realizing  their  programme.  The  emperor 
was  consequently  able  to  pass  the  last  four  years  of  his  life 
with  some  degree  of  personal  tranquillity,  and  in  full  indul- 
gence of  his  palace  pleasures,  which  seem  at  this  period  to 
have  mainly  consisted  of  a  theatrical  troupe  which  accom- 
panied him  even  when  he  went  to  offer  sacrifice  in  the  tem- 
ples. His  excessive  devotion  to  pleasure  did  not  add  to  his 
reputation  with  his  people,  and  it  is  recorded  that  one  of  the 
chief  causes  of  the  minister  Sung's  disgrace  and  banishment 
to  Hi  was  his  making  a  protest  against  the  emperor's  pro* 


260  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

ceedings.  Some  time  before  his  death  Kiaking  drew  up  his 
will,  and  on  account  of  his  great  virtues  he  specialty  selected 
as  his  successor  his  second  son,  Prince  Meenning,  who  had 
saved  his  life  from  assassins  in  the  attack  on  the  palace. 
Kiaking  died  on  September  2,  1820,  in  the  sixty-first  year 
of  his  age,  leaving  to  his  successor  a  diminished  authority, 
an  enfeebled  power,  and  a  discontented  people.  Some  miti- 
gating circumstance  may  generally  be  pleaded  against  the 
adverse  verdict  of  history  in  its  estimation  of  a  public  char- 
acter. The  difficulties  with  which  the  individual  had  to 
contend  may  have  been  exceptional  and  unexpected,  the 
measures  which  he  adopted  may  have  had  untoward  and 
unnatural  results,  and  the  crisis  of  the  hour  may  have  called 
for  genius  of  a  transcendent  order.  But  in  the  case  of 
Kiaking  not  one  of  these  extenuating  facts  can  be  pleaded. 
His  path  had  been  smoothed  for  him  by  his  predecessor,  his 
difficulties  were  raised  by  his  own  indifference,  and  the  con- 
sequences of  his  spasmodic  and  ill-directed  energy  were 
scarcely  less  unfortunate  than  those  of  his  habitual  apathy. 
So  much  easier  is  the  work  of  destruction  than  the  labor  of 
construction,  that  Kiaking  in  twenty-five  years  had  done 
almost  as  much  harm  to  the  constitution  of  his  country  and 
to  the  fortunes  of  his  dynasty  as  Keen  Lung  had  conferred 
solid  advantages  on  the  state  in  his  brilliant  reign  of  sixty 
years. 

On  the  whole  it  seems  as  if  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
people  was  never  greater  than  during  the  reign  of  Kiaking. 
The  population  by  the  census  of  1812  is  said  to  have  exceeded 
360  millions,  and  the  revenue  never  showed  a  more  flourish- 
ing return  on  paper.  To  the  external  view  all  was  still  fair 
and  prosperous  when  Kiaking  died;  under  his  successor, 
who  was  in  every  sense  a  worthier  prince,  the  canker  and 
decay  were  to  be  clearly  revealed. 


THE   EMPEROR    TAOUKWANG  261 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE   EMPEROR   TAOUKWANO 

The  early  years  of  the  new  reign  were  marked  by  a 
number  of  events  unconnected  with  each  other  but  all  con- 
tributing to  the  important  incidents  of  the  later  period  which 
must  be  described,  although  they  cannot  be  separated.  The 
name  of  Taoukwang,  which  Prince  Meenning  took  on  as- 
cending the  throne,  means  Reason's  Light,  and  there  were 
many  who  thought  it  was  especially  appropriate  for  a  prince 
who  was  more  qualified  for  a  college  than  a  palace.  Most 
of  the  chroniclers  of  the  period  gave  an  unfavorable  picture 
of  the  new  ruler,  who  was  described  as  "thin  and  toothless," 
and  as  "lank  in  figure,  low  of  stature,  with  a  haggard  face, 
a  reserved  look,  and  a  quiet  exterior."  He  was  superior  to 
his  external  aspect,  for  it  may  be  truly  said  that  although 
he  had  to  deal  with  new  conditions  he  evinced  under  critical 
circumstances  a  dignity  of  demeanor  and  a  certain  royal 
patience  which  entitled  him  to  the  respect  of  his  opponents. 

Taoukwang  began  his  reign  in  every  way  in  a  creditable 
manner.  "While  professing  in  his  proclamations  the  greatest 
admiration  for  his  father,  his  first  acts  reversed  his  policy 
and  aimed  at  undoing  the  mischief  he  had  accomplished. 
He  released,  all  the  political  prisoners  who  had  been  con-, 
signed  to  jail  by  the  suspicious  fear  of  Kiaking,  and  many 
of  the  banished  Manchu  princes  were  allowed  to  return  to 
Pekin.  He  made  many  public  declarations  of  his  intention 
to  govern  his  people  after  a  model  and  conscientious  fashion 
and  his  subsequent  acts  showed  that  he  was  at  least  sincere 
in  his  intentions,  if  an  accumulation  of  troubles  prevented 
his  attaining  all  the  objects  he  set  before  himself  when  he 
first  took  the  government  in  hand.  Nothing  showed  his  in- 
tegrity more  clearly  than  his  restoration  of  the  minister  Sung 


262  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CB&fA. 

to  the  favor  and  offices  of  which  he  had  been  dispossessed. 
The  vicissitudes  of  fortune  passed  through  by  this  official 
have  been  previously  referred  to,  and  his  restoration  to 
power  was  a  practical  proof  of  the  new  ruler's  good  resolu- 
tions, and  meant  more  than  all  the  virtuous  platitudes  ex- 
pressed in  vermilion  edicts.  Sung  had  gained  a  popularity 
that  far  exceeded  that  of  the  emperor,  through  the  lavish 
way  in  which  he  distributed  his  wealth,  consistently  refus- 
ing to  accumulate  money  for  the  benefit  of  himself  or  his 
family.  But  his  independent  spirit  rendered  him  an  un- 
pleasant monitor  for  princes  who  were  either  negligent  of 
their  duty  or  sensitive  of  criticism,  and  even  Taoukwang 
appears  to  have  dreaded,  in  anticipation,  the  impartial  and 
fearless  criticism  of  the  minister  whom  he  restored  to  favor. 
Sung  was  employed  in  two  of  the  highest  possible  posts, 
Viceroy  of  Pechihli  and  President  of  the  Board  of  Censors, 
and  until  his  death  he  succeeded  in  maintaining  his  position 
in  face  of  his  enemies,  and  notwithstanding  his  excessive 
candor.  One  of  the  first  reforms  instituted  by  the  Emperor 
Taoukwang  was  to  cut  down  the  enormous  palace  expenses, 
which  his  father  had  allowed  to  increase  to  a  high  point,  and 
to  banish  from  the  imperial  city  all  persons  who  could  not 
give  some  valid  justification  for  their  being  allowed  to  re- 
main. The  troupes  of  actors  and  buffoons  were  expelled, 
and  the  harem  was  reduced  to  modest  dimensions.  Taouk- 
wang declared  himself  to  be  a  monogamist,  and  proclaimed 
his  one  wife  empress.  He  also  put  a  stop  to  the  annual  visits 
*o  Jehol  and  to  the  costly  hunting  establishment  there,  which 
entailed  a  great  waste  of  public  funds.  The  money  thus 
saved  was  much  wanted  for  various  national  requirements, 
and  the  sufferings  caused  by  flood  and  famine  were  alleviated 
out  of  these  palace  savings.  How  great  the  national  suffer- 
ing had  become  was  shown  by  the  marked  increase  of  crime, 
especially  all  forms  of  theft  and  the  coining  of  false  money, 
for  which  new  and  severe  penalties  were  ordained  without 
greatly  mitigating  the  evil.  During  all  these  troubles  and 
trials  Taoukwang  endeavored  to  play  the  part  of  a  beneficent 


THE    EMPEROR    TAOUKWANG.  263 

and  merciful  sovereign,  tempering  the  severity  of  the  laws 
by  acts  of  clemency,  and  personally  superintending  every 
department  of  the  administration.  He  seems  thus  to  have 
gained  a  reputation  among  his  subjects  which  he  never  lost, 
and  the  blame  for  any  unpopular  measures  was  always  as- 
signed to  his  ministers.  But  although  he  endeavored  to  play 
the  part  of  an  autocrat,  there  is  every  ground  for  saying  that 
he  failed  to  realize  the  character,  and  that  he  was  swayed 
more  than  most  rulers  by  the  advice  of  his  ministers.  The 
four  principal  officials  after  Sung,  whose  death  occurred  at 
an  early  date  after  Taoukwang's  accession,  were  Hengan, 
Elepoo,  Keying,  and  Keshen. 

The  first  ten  years  of  Taoukwang's  reign  have  been 
termed  prosperous,  because  they  have  left  so  little  to  re- 
cord, but  this  application  of  the  theory  that  "the  country  is 
happy  which  has  no  history,"  does  not  seem  borne  out  by 
such  facts  as  have  come  to  our  knowledge.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  there  was  a  great  amount  of  public  suffering, 
and  that  the  prosperity  of  the  nation  declined  from  the  high 
point  it  had  reached  under  Kiaking.  Scarcity  of  food  and 
want  of  work  increased  the  growing  discontent,  which  did 
not  require  even  secret  societies  to  give  it  point  and  expres- 
sion, and  as  far  as  could  be  judged  it  was  worse  than  when 
the  Water-Lily  Society  inspired  Kiaking  with  most  appre- 
hension. Kiaking,  as  has  been  observed,  escaped  the  most 
serious  consequences  of  his  own  acts.  There  was  much  pop- 
ular discontent,  but  there  was  no  open  rebellion.  Taouk- 
wang  had  not  been  on  the  throne  many  years  before  he  was 
brought  face  to  face  with  rebels  who  openly  disputed  his 
authority,  and,  strangely  enough,  his  troubles  began  in 
Central  Asia,  where  peace  had  been  undisturbed  for  half 
a  century. 

The  conquest  of  Central  Asia  had  been  among  the  most 
brilliant  and  remarkable  of  the  feats  of  the  great  Keen  Lung. 
Peace  had  been  preserved  there  as  much  by  the  extraordi^ 
nary  prestige  or  reputation  of  China  as  by  the  skill  of  the 
administration  or  the  soundness  of  the  policy  of  the  govern- 


264  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

ing  power,  which  left  a  large  share  of  the  work  to  the  sub- 
ject races.  Outside  each  of  the  principal  towns  the  Chinese 
built  a  fort  or  gulbagh,  in  which  their  garrison  resided,  and 
military  officers  or  ambans  were  appointed  to  every  district. 
The  Mohammedan  officials  were  held  responsible  for  the 
good  conduct  of  the  people  and  the  due  collection  of  the 
taxes,  and  as  long  as  the  Chinese  garrison  was  maintained 
in  strength  and  efficiency  they  discharged  their  duties  with 
the  requisite  good  faith.  The  lapse  of  time  and  the  embar- 
rassment of  the  government  at  home  led  to  the  neglect  of 
the  force  in  Central  Asia,  which  had  once  been  an  efficient 
army.  The  Chinese  garrison,  ill-paid  and  unrecruited,  grad- 
ually lost  the  semblance  of  a  military  force,  and  was  not  to 
be  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  civil  population.  The 
difference  of  religion  was  the  only  unequivocal  mark  of  dis- 
tinction between  the  rulers  and  the  ruled,  and  it  furnished 
an  ever-present  cause  of  enmity  and  dislike,  although  apart 
from  this  the  Mohammedans  accepted  the  Chinese  rule  as 
not  bad  in  itself,  and  even  praised  it.  The  Chinese  might 
have  continued  to  govern  Hi  and  Kashgar  indefinitely,  not- 
withstanding the  weakness  and  decay  of  their  garrison,  but 
for  the  ambition  of  a  neighbor.  The  Chinese  are  to  blame, 
however,  not  merely  for  having  ignored  the  obvious  aggres- 
siveness of  that  neighbor,  but  for  having  provided  it  with 
facilities  for  carrying  out  its  plans.  The  Khanate  of  Kho- 
kand,  the  next-door  state  in  Central  Asia,  had  been  inti- 
mately connected  with  Kashgar  from  ancient  times,  both  in 
politics  and  trade.  The  Chinese  armies  in  the  eighteenth 
century  had  advanced  into  Khokand,  humbled  its  khan, 
and  reduced  him  to  a  state  of  vassalage.  For  more  than 
fifty  years  the  khan  sent  tribute  to  China,  and  was  the 
humble  neighbor  of  the  Chinese.  He  gave,  however,  a 
place  of  refuge  and  a  pension  to  Sarimsak,  the  last  repre- 
sentative of  the  old  Khoja  family  of  Kashgar,  and  thus  re- 
tained a  hold  on  the  legitimate  ruler  of  that  state.  Sarimsak 
had  as  a  child  escaped  from  the  pursuit  of  Fouta  and  the 
massacre  of  his  relations  by  the  chief  of  Badakshan,  but  he 


THE   EMPEROR    TAOUKWANQ.  265 

was  content  to  remain  a  pensioner  at  Khokand  to  the  end  of 
his  days,  and  he  left  the  assertion  of  what  he  considered  his 
rights  to  his  children.  His  three  sons  were  named,  in  the 
order  of  their  age,  Yusuf,  Barhanuddin,  and  Jehangir,  and 
each  of  them  attempted  at  different  times  to  dispossess  the 
Chinese  in  Kashgar.  In  the  year  1812,  when  Kiaking's 
weakness  was  beginning  to  be  apparent,  the  Khan  of  Kho- 
kand, a  chief  of  more  than  usual  ability,  named  Mahomed 
Ali,  refused  to  send  tribute  any  more  to  China,  and  the 
Viceroy  of  Hi,  having  no  force  at  his  disposal,  acquiesced  in 
the  change  with  good  grace,  and  no  hostilities  ensued.  The 
first  concession  was  soon  followed  by  others.  The  khan 
obtained  the  right  to  levy  a  tax  on  all  Mohammedan  mer- 
chandise sold  in  the  bazaars  of  Kashgar  and  Yarkand,  and 
deputed  consuls  or  aksakals  for  the  purpose  of  collecting 
the  duties.  These  aksakals  naturally  became  the  center  of 
all  the  intrigue  and  disaffection  prevailing  in  the  state 
against  the  Chinese,  and  they  considered  it  to  be  as  much 
their  duty  to  provoke  political  discontent  as  to  supervise  the 
customs  placed  under  their  charge.  Before  the  aksakals 
appeared  on  the  scene  the  Chinese  ruled  a  peaceful  terri- 
tory, but  after  the  advent  of  these  foreign  officials  trouble 
soon  ensued. 

Ten  years  after  his  refusal  to  pay  tribute  the  Khan  of 
Khokand  decided  to  support  the  Khoja  pretenders  who  en- 
joyed his  hospitality,  and  in  1822  Jehangir  was  provided 
with  money  and  arms  to  make  an  attempt  on  the  Chinese 
position  in  Kashgaria.  Although  the  youngest,  Jehangir 
seems  to  have  been  the  most  energetic  of  the  Khoja  princes; 
and  having  obtained  the  alliance  of  the  Kirghiz,  he  at- 
tempted, by  a  rapid  movement,  to  surprise  the  Chinese  in 
the  town  of  Kashgar.  In  this  attempt  he  was  disappointed, 
for  the  Chinese  kept  better  guard  than  he  expected,  and  he 
was  compelled  to  make  an  ignominious  retreat.  The  Khan 
of  Khokand,  disappointed  at  the  result  and  apprehensive  of 
counter  action  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese,  repudiated  all  par- 
ticipation in  the  matter,  and  forbade  Jehangir  to  return  to 

12 


266  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

his  country.  That  adventurer  then  fled  to  Lake  Issik  Kul, 
whither  the  Chinese  pursued  him;  but  when  his  fortunes 
seemed  to  have  reached  their  lowest  ebb  a  revulsion  sud- 
denly took  place,  and  by  the  surprise  and  annihilation  of  a 
Chinese  force  he  was  again  able  to  pose  as  an  arbiter  of 
affairs  in  Central  Asia.  The  fortitude  of  Jehangir  con- 
firmed the  attachment  of  his  friends,  and  the  Khokandian 
ruler,  encouraged  by  the  defeat  of  the  Chinese,  again  took 
up  his  cause  and  sent  him  troops  and  a  general  for  a  fresh 
descent  on  Kashgaria.  The  khan  had  his  own  ends  in  view 
quite  as  much  as  to  support  the  Khoja  pretender;  but  his 
support  encouraged  Jehangir  to  leave  his  mountain  retreat 
and  to  cross  the  Tian  Shan  into  Kashgaria.  This  happened 
in  the  year  1826,  and  the  Chinese  garrison  of  Kashgar  very 
unwisely  quitted  the  shelter  of  its  citadel  and  went  out  to 
meet  the  invaders.  The  combat  is  said  to  have  been  fiercely 
contested,  but  nothing  is  known  about  it  except  that  the 
Chinese  were  signally  defeated.  This  overthrow  was  the 
signal  for  a  general  insurrection  throughout  the  country, 
and  the  Chinese  garrisons,  after  more  or  less  resistance, 
were  annihilated.  An  attempt  was  then  made  to  restore 
the  old  Mohammedan  administration,  and  Jehangir  was 
proclaimed  by  the  style  of  the  Seyyid  Jehangir  Sultan. 
One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  dismiss  the  Khokandian  con- 
tingent, and  to  inform  his  ally  or  patron,  Mahomed  Ali,  tha% 
he  no  longer  required  his  assistance.  His  confidence  r& 
ceived  a  rude  check  when  he  learned  a  short  time  aften 
ward  that  the  Chinese  were  making  extraordinary  prepa- 
rations to  recover  their  lost  province,  and  that  they  had 
collected  an  immense  army  in  Hi  for  the  purpose.  Then 
he  wished  his  Khokandian  allies  back  again ;  but  he  still  re- 
solved to  make  as  good  a  fight  as  he  could  for  the  throne 
he  had  acquired;  and  when  the  Chinese  general  Chang 
marched  on  Kashgar,  Jehangir  took  up  his  position  at 
Yangabad  and  accepted  battle.  He  was  totally  defeated; 
the  capture  of  Kashgar  followed,  and  Jehangir  himself  fell 
into   the   hands  of  the  victors.     The   Khoja  was  sent  to 


THE  EMPEROR    TAOUKWANO.  267 

Pekin,  where,  after  many  indignities,  he  was  executed 
and  quartered  as  a  traitor.  The  Chinese  punished  all  open 
rebels  with  death,  and  as  a  precaution  against  the  recur- 
rence of  rebellion  they  removed  12,000  Mohammedan  fami- 
lies from  Kashgar  to  Hi,  where  they  became  known  as  the 
Tarantchis,  or  toilers.  They  also  took  the  very  wise  step 
of  prohibiting  all  intercourse  with  Khokand,  and  if  they 
had  adhered  to  this  resolution  they  would  have  saved 
themselves  much  serious  trouble.  But  Mahomed  Ali  was 
determined  to  make  an  effort  to  retain  so  valuable  a  per- 
quisite as  his  trade  relations  with  Kashgar,  and  as  soon  as 
the  Chinese  had  withdrawn  the  main  portion  of  their  force 
he  hastened  to  assail  Kashgar  at  the  head  of  his  army,  and 
put  forward  Yusuf  as  a  successor  to  Jehangir.  Only  des- 
ultory fighting  ensued,  but  his  operations  were  so  far  suc- 
cessful that  the  Chinese  agreed  to  resort  to  the  previous 
arrangement,  and  Mahomed  Ali  promised  to  restrain  the 
Khojas.  Fourteen  years  of  peace  and  prosperity  followed 
this  new  convention. 

Serious  disorders  also  broke  out  in  the  islands  of  Formosa 
and  Hainan.  In  the  former  the  rebellion  was  only  put 
down  by  a  judicious  manipulation  of  the  divisions  of  the 
insurgent  tribes;  but  the  settlement  attained  must  be  pro- 
nounced so  far  satisfactory  that  the  peace  of  the  island  was 
assured.  In  Hainan,  an  island  of  extraordinary  fertility  and 
natural  wealth,  which  must  some  day  be  developed,  the 
aboriginal  tribes  revolted  against  Chinese  authority,  and 
massacred  many  of  the  Chinese  settlers,  who  had  begun  to 
encroach  on  the  possessions  of  the  natives.  Troops  had  to 
be  sent  from  Canton  before  the  disorders  were  suppressed, 
and  then  Hainan  reverted  to  its  tranquil  state,  from  which 
only  the  threat  of  a  French  occupation  during  the  Tonquin 
war  roused  it.  These  disorders  in  different  parts  of  the 
empire  were  matched  by  troubles  of  a  more  domestic  char- 
acter within  the  palace.  In  1831  Taoukwang's  only  son,  a 
young  man  of  twenty,  whose  character  was  not  of  the  best, 
gave  him  some  cause  of  offense,  and  he  struck  him.     The 


168  ^1    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

young  prince  died  of  the  blow,  and  the  emperor  was  left  for 
the  moment  without  a  child.  His  grief  was  soon  assuaged 
by  the  news  that  two  of  his  favorite  concubines  had  borne 
him  sons,  one  of  whom  became  long  afterward  the  Emperor 
Hienfung.  At  this  critical  moment  Taoukwang  was  seized 
with  a  severe  illness,  and  his  elder  brother,  Hwuy  Wang, 
whose  pretensions  had  threatened  the  succession,  thinking 
his  chance  had  at  last  come,  took  steps  to  seize  the  throne. 
But  Taoukwang  recovered,  and  those  who  had  made  prema- 
ture arrangements  in  filling  the  throne  were  severely  pun- 
ished. These  minor  troubles  culminated  in  the  Miaotze  Re- 
bellion, the  most  formidable  internal  war  which  the  Chinese 
government  had  to  deal  with  between  that  of  Wou  Sankwei 
and  the  Taepings.  From  an  early  period  the  Miaotze  had 
been  a  source  of  trouble  to  the  executive,  and  the  relations 
between  them  and  the  officials  had  been  anything  but  har- 
monious. The  Manchu  rulers  had  only  succeeded  in  keep- 
ing them  in  order  by  stopping  their  supply  of  salt  on  the 
smallest  provocation ;  and  in  the  belief  that  they  possessed 
an  absolutely  certain  mode  of  coercing  them,  the  Chinese 
mandarins  assumed  an  arrogant  and  dictatorial  tone  toward 
their  rude  and  unreclaimed  neighbors.  In  1832  the  Miaotze, 
irritated  past  endurance,  broke  out  in  rebellion,  and  their 
principal  chief  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed  emperor. 
Their  main  force  was  assembled  at  Lienchow,  in  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  Canton  province,  and  their  leader  as- 
sumed the  suggestive  title  of  the  Golden  Dragon,  and  called 
upon  the  Chinese  people  to  redress  their  wrongs  by  joining 
his  standard.  But  the  Chinese,  who  regarded  the  Miaotze 
as  an  inferior  and  barbarian  race,  refused  to  combine  with 
them  against  the  most  extortionate  of  officials  or  the  most 
unpopular  of  governments.  Although  they  could  not  enlist 
the  support  of  any  section  of  the  Chinese  people,  the  Miaotze, 
by  their  valor  and  the  military  skill  of  their  leader,  made  so 
good  a  stand  against  the  forces  sent  against  them  by  the 
Canton  viceroy  that  the  whole  episode  is  redeemed  from  ob- 
livion, and  may  be  considered  a  romantic  incident  in  modern 


THE   EMPEROR    TAOUKWANO.  269 

Chinese  history.  The  Miaotze  gained  the  first  successes  of  the 
war,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  Chinese  authorities 
would  be  able  to  effect  nothing  against  them.  The  Canton 
viceroy  fared  so  badly  that  Hengan  was  sent  from  Pekin  to 
take  the  command,  and  the  chosen  braves  of  Hoonan  were 
sent  to  attack  the  Miaotze  in  the  rear.  The  latter  gained 
a  decisive  victory  at  Pingtseuen,  where  the  Golden  Dragon 
and  several  thousand  of  his  followers  were  slain.  But,  al- 
though vanquished  in  one  quarter,  the  Miaotze  continued  to 
show  great  activity  and  confidence  in  another,  and  when 
the  Canton  viceroy  made  a  fresh  attack  on  them  they  re- 
pulsed him  with  heavy  loss.  The  disgrace  of  this  officer 
followed,  and  his  fall  was  hastened  by  the  suppression  of 
the  full  extent  of  his  losses,  which  excited  the  indignation 
of  his  own  troops,  who  said,  "There  is  no  use  in  our  sacri- 
ficing our  lives  in  secret ;  if  our  toils  are  concealed  from  the 
emperor  neither  we  nor  our  posterity  will  be  rewarded." 
This  unlucky  commander  was  banished  to  Central  Asia, 
and  after  his  supersession  Hengan  had  the  satisfaction  of 
bringing  the  war  to  a  satisfactory  end  within  ten  days. 
Some  of  the  leaders  were  executed,  the  others  swore  to  keep 
the  peace,  and  a  glowing  account  of  the  pacification  of  the 
Miaotze  region  was  sent  to  Pekin.  Some  severe  critics  sug- 
gested that  the  whole  arrangement  was  a  farce,  and  that 
Hengan's  triumph  was  only  on  paper;  but  the  lapse  of  time 
has  shown  this  skepticism  to  be  unjustified,  as  the  Miaotze 
have  remained  tranquil  ever  since,  and  the  formidable 
Yaoujin,  or  Wolfmen,  as  they  are  called,  have  observed 
the  promises  given  to  Hengan,  which  would  not  have  been 
the  case  unless  they  had  been  enforced  by  military  success. 
Should  they  ever  break  out  again,  the  government  would 
possess  the  means,  from  their  command  of  money  and  mod- 
ern arms,  of  repressing  their  lawlessness  with  unprecedented 
thoroughness,  and  of  absolutely  subjecting  their  hitherto 
inaccessible  districts. 

If  the  first  ten  or  twelve  years  of  the  reign  of  the  Em- 
peror Taoukwang  were  marked  by  these  troubles  on  a  minor 


270  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

scale,  an  undue  importance  should  not  be  attached  to  them, 
for  they  did  not  seriously  affect  the  stability  of  the  govern- 
ment or  the  authority  of  the  emperor.  It  is  true  that  they 
caused  a  decline  in  the  revenue  and  an  increase  in  the  ex- 
penditure, which  resulted  in  the  year  1834  in  an  admitted 
deficit  of  fifty  million  dollars,  and  no  state  could  be  consid- 
ered in  a  flourishing  condition  with  the  public  exchequer  in 
such  a  condition.  But  this  large  deficit  must  be  regarded 
rather  as  a  floating  debt  than  an  annual  occurrence. 

The  Chinese  authorities  continued  to  hinder  and  protest 
against  the  foreign  trade  and  intercourse  between  their  sub- 
jects and  the  merchants  of  Europe  as  much  as  ever ;  but 
their  opposition  was  mainly  confined  to  edicts  and  proclama- 
tions. "When  Commissioner  Lin  resorted  to  force  and  vio- 
lence some  years  later  the  auspicious  moment  for  expelling 
all  foreigners  had  passed  away,  and  the  weakness  of  the 
government  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  this  result. 
Taoukwang,  although  his  claims  as  occupant  of  the  Dragon 
Throne  were  unabated,  could  not  pretend  to  the  power  of  a 
great  ruler  like  Keen  Lung,  who  would  have  known  how  t^ 
enforce  his  will.  Nor  was  it  possible  after  1834  to  continue 
the  policy  of  uncompromising  hostility  to  all  foreign  nations 
whose  governments  had  become  directly  interested  in,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  responsible  to,  their  respective  peoples, 
for  the  opening  of  the  Chinese  empire  to  civilized  intercourse 
and  commerce.  Up  to  this  point  Taoukwang's  only  experi- 
ence of  the  pretensions  of  the  foreign  powers  had  been  the 
Amherst  mission,  in  the  time  of  his  father,  which  had  ended 
so  ignominiously,  and  the  Russian  mission  which  arrived  at 
Pekin  every  ten  years  to  recruit  the  Russian  college  there, 
and  to  pay  the  descendants  of  the  garrison  of  Albazin  the 
sum  allotted  by  the  czar  for  their  support.  But  from  these 
trifling  matters  Taoukwang's  attention  was  suddenly  and 
completely  distracted  to  the  important  situation  at  Canton 
and  on  the  coast,  the  settlement  of  the  questions  arising  out 
of  which  filled  the  remainder  of  his  reign. 


THE   FIRST  FOREIGN   WAR.  271 


CHAPTER   XVII 

THE   FIRST   FOREIGN   WAR 

At  the  very  time  that  the  Emperor  Taoukwang,  by  the 
dismissal  of  the  Portuguese  astronomers  at  Pekin  and  by 
his  general  indifference  to  the  foreign  question,  was  showing 
that  no  concessions  were  to  be  expected  from  him,  an  un- 
known legislature  at  a  remote  distance  from  his  capital  was 
decreeing,  in  complete  indifference  to  the  susceptibilities  of 
the  occupant  of  the  Dragon  Throne,  that  trade  with  China 
might  be  pursued  by  any  English  subject.  Up  to  the  year 
1834  trade  with  China  had,  by  the  royal  charter,  remained 
the  monopoly  of  the  East  India  Company;  but  when  the 
charter  was  renewed  in  that  year  for  a  further  period  of 
twenty  years,  it  was  shorn  of  the  last  of  its  commercial 
privileges,  and  an  immediate  change  became  perceptible  in 
the  situation  at  Canton,  which  was  the  principal  seat  of  the 
foreign  trade.  The  withdrawal  of  the  monopoly  was  dic- 
tated solely  by  English,  and  not  Chinese,  considerations. 
Far  from  facilitating  trade  with  the  Chinese,  it  tended  to 
hinder  and  prevent  its  developing ;  for  the  Chinese  officials 
had  no  objection  to  foreigners  coming  to  Canton,  and  buy- 
ing or  selling  articles  of  commerce,  so  long  as  they  derived 
personal  profit  from  the  trade,  and  so  long  as  the  laws  of  the 
empire  were  not  disputed  or  violated.  The  servants  of  the 
East  India  Company  were  content  to  adapt  themselves  to 
this  view,  and  they  might  have  carried  on  relations  with 
the  Hong  merchants  for  an  indefinite  period,  and  without 
any  more  serious  collision  than  occasional  interruptions. 
Had  the  monopoly  been  renewed  things  would  have  been 
left  in  precisely  the  same  position  as  when  intercourse  was 
first  established,  and  trade  might  have  continued  within  its 
old  restricted  limits.     But  the  abolition  of  the  monopoly  and 


272  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

the  opening  of  the  trade  created  quite  a  new  situation,  and 
by  intensifying  the  opposition  of  the  Chinese  government, 
paved  the  way  to  the  only  practicable  solution  of  the  ques- 
tion of  foreign  intercourse  with  China,  which  was  that,  how- 
ever reluctantly,  she  should  consent  to  take  her  place  in  the 
family  of  nations. 

The  Chinese  were  not  left  long  in  doubt  as  to  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  change.  In  December,  1833,  a  royal  commis- 
sion was  issued  appointing  Lord  Napier  chief  superintend- 
ent of  trade  with  China,  and  two  assistants  under  him,  of 
whom  one  was  Sir  John  Davis.  The  Chinese  had  to  some 
extent  contributed  to  this  appointment,  the  Hoppo  at  Canton 
having  written  that  "in  case  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Com- 
pany it  was  incumbent  on  the  British  government  to  appoint 
a  chief  to  come  to  Canton  for  the  general  management  of 
commercial  dealings,  and  to  prevent  affairs  from  going  to 
confusion. "  But  in  this  message  the  Hoppo  seems  to  have 
expressed  his  own  view  rather  than  that  of  the  Pekin  gov- 
ernment or  the  Canton  viceroy;  and  certainly  none  of  the 
Chinese  were  prepared  to  find  substituted  for  "a  chief  of 
commercial  dealings' '  an  important  commissioner  clothed 
with  all  the  authority  of  the  British  ruler.  How  very  dif- 
ferent was  the  idea  formed  of  this  functionary  by  the  Chi- 
nese and  English  may  be  gathered  from  their  official  views 
of  his  work.  What  the  Chinese  thought  has  been  told  in 
the  words  of  the  Hoppo.  Lord  Palmerston  was  more  precise 
from  his  point  of  view.  His  instruction  to  Lord  Napier  read, 
"Your  lordship  will  announce  your  arrival  at  Canton  by  let- 
ter to  the  viceroy.  In  addition  to  the  duty  of  protecting  and 
fostering  the  trade  at  Canton,  it  will  be  one  of  your  principal 
objects  to  ascertain  whether  it  may  not  be  practicable  to  ex- 
tend that  trade  to  other  parts  of  the  Chinese  dominions.  It 
is  obvious  that,  with  a  view  to  the  attainment  of  this  object, 
the  establishment  of  direct  communication  with  the  imperial 
court  at  Pekin  would  be  most  desirable."  The  two  points 
of  radical  disagreement  between  these  views  were  that  the 
Chinese  wished  to  deal  with  an  official  who  thought  exclu- 


THE    FIRST    FOREIGN    WAR.  273 

sively  of  trade,  whereas  Lord  Napier's  task  was  not  less  dip- 
lomatic than  commercial;  and,  secondly,  that  they  expected 
him  to  carry  on  his  business  with  the  Hoppo,  as  the  Com- 
pany's agents  had  done,  while  Lord  Napier  was  specially 
instructed  to  communicate  with  the  viceroy,  whom  those 
agents  had  never  dared  to  approach. 

If  it  was  thought  that  the  Chinese  would  not  realize  all 
the  significance  of  the  change,  those  who  held  so  slight  an 
opinion  of  their  clear-headedness  were  quickly  undeceived. 
Lord  Napier  reached  the  Canton  River  in  July,  1834,  and 
he  at  once  addressed  a  letter  of  courtesy  to  the  viceroy  an- 
nouncing his  arrival.  The  Chinese  officers,  after  perusing 
it,  refused  to  forward  it  to  the  viceroy,  and  returned  it  to 
Lord  Napier.  Such  was  the  inauspicious  commencement 
of  the  assumption  of  responsibility  by  the  crown  in  China. 
The  Chinese  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  Lord 
Napier,  whom  they  described  as  "a  barbarian  eye,"  and  they 
threatened  the  merchants  with  the  immediate  suspension  of 
the  trade.  The  viceroy  issued  an  order  forbidding  the  new 
superintendent  to  proceed  to  Canton,  and  commanding  him 
to  stay  at  Macao  until  he  had  applied  in  the  prescribed  form 
for  permission  to  proceed  up  the  river.  But  Lord  Napier 
did  not  listen  to  these  representations,  nor  did  he  condescend 
to  delay  his  progress  a  moment  at  Macao.  He  proceeded 
up  the  river  to  Canton,  but,  although  he  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing his  way  to  the  English  factory,  it  was  only  to  find  him- 
self isolated,  and  that,  in  accordance  with  the  viceroy's  order, 
the  Hoppo  had  interdicted  all  intercourse  with  the  English 
The  Chinese  declared  that  the  national  dignity  was  at  stake 
and  so  thoroughly  did  both  officials  and  merchants  harmon 
ize  that  the  English  factory  was  at  once  deserted  by  all  Chi 
nese  subjects,  and  even  the  servants  left  their  employment 
On  his  arrival  at  Canton,  Lord  Napier  found  himself  con 
fronted  with  the  position  that  the  Chinese  authorities  refused 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  him,  and  that  his  presence  effect- 
ually debarred  his  countrymen  from  carrying  on  the  trade, 
which  it  was  his  first  duty  to  promote.     At  this  conjuncture 


274  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

it  happened  that  the  Chinese  had  discovered  what  they 
thought  to  be  a  new  grievance  against  the  foreign  traders 
in  the  steady  efflux  of  silver  as  the  natural  consequence  of 
the  balance  of  trade  being  against  China.  In  a  report  to 
the  throne  in  1833  it  was  stated  that  as  much  as  60,000,000 
taels  of  silver,  or  $100,000,000,  had  been  exported  from 
China  in  the  previous  eleven  years,  and,  as  the  Chinese 
of  course  made  no  allowance  for  the  equivalent  value  im- 
ported into  their  country,  this  total  seemed  in  their  eyes  an 
incredibly  large  sum  to  be  lost  from  the  national  treasure. 
It  will  be  easily  understood  that  at  this  particular  moment 
the  foreign  trade  appeared  to  possess  few  advantages,  and 
found  few  patrons  among  the  Chinese  people. 

In  meeting  this  opposition  Lord  Napier  endeavored  to 
combine  courtesy  and  firmness.  He  wrote  courteous  and 
argumentative  letters  to  the  mandarins,  combating  their 
views,  and  insisting  on  his  rights  as  a  diplomatist  to  be 
received  by  the  officials  of  the  empire;  and  at  the  same 
time  he  issued  a  notice  to  the  Chinese  merchants  which  was 
full  of  threats  and  defiance.  "The  merchants  of  Great 
Britain,"  he  said,  "wish  to  trade  with  all  China  on  prin- 
ciples of  mutual  benefit;  they  will  never  relax  in  their  ex- 
ertions till  they  gain  a  point  of  equal  importance  to  both 
countries,  and  the  viceroy  will  find  it  as  easy  to  stop  the 
current  of  the  Canton  River  as  to  carry  into  effect  the  in- 
sane determinations  of  the  Hong."  This  notice  was  natu- 
rally enough  interpreted  as  a  defiance  by  the  viceroy,  who 
placed  the  most  severe  restrictions  he  could  on  the  trade, 
sent  his  troops  into  the  foreign  settlements  to  remove  all 
Chinese  servants,  and  ordered  the  Bogue  forts  to  fire  on 
*ny  English  ship  that  attempted  to  pass.  The  English  mer- 
chants, alarmed  at  the  situation,  petitioned  Lord  Napier 
to  allay  the  storm  he  had  raised  by  retiring  from  Canton  to 
Macao,  and,  harassed  in  mind  and  enfeebled  in  body,  Lord 
Napier  acquiesced  in  an  arrangement  that  stultified  all  his 
former  proceedings.  The  Chinese  were  naturally  intoxi- 
cated by  their   triumph,  which  vindicated  their  principle 


THE   FIRST    FOREIGN    WAR.  275 

that  no  English  merchant  or  emissary  should  be  allowed 
to  come  to  Canton  except  by  the  viceroy's  permit,  granted 
only  to  the  petition  and  on  the  guarantee  of  the  Hong  mer- 
chants. The  viceroy  had  also  carried  his  point  of  holding 
no  intercourse  with  the  English  envoy,  to  whom  he  had 
written  that  "the  great  ministers  of  the  Celestial  Empire, 
unless  with  regard  to  affairs  of  going  to  court  and  carrying 
tribute,  or  in  consequence  of  imperial  commands,  are  not 
permitted  to  have  interviews  with  outside  barbarians." 
"While  the  Chinese  officials  had  been  both  consistent  and 
successful,  the  new  English  superintendent  of  trade  had 
been  both  inconsistent  and  discomfited.  He  had  attempted 
to  carry  matters  with  a  high  hand  and  to  coerce  the  man- 
darins, and  he  was  compelled  to  show  in  the  most  public 
manner  that  he  had  failed  by  his  retirement  to  Macao.  He 
had  even  imperiled  the  continuance  of  the  trade  which  he 
had  come  specially  to  promote,  and  all  he  could  do  to  show 
his  indignation  was  to  make  a  futile  protest  against  "this 
act  of  unprecedented  tyranny  and  injustice."  Very  soon 
after  Lord  Napier's  return  to  Macao  he  died,  leaving  to 
other  hands  the  settlement  of  the  difficult  affair  which 
neither  his  acts  nor  his  language  had  simplified. 

On  Lord  Napier's  departure  from  Canton  the  restrictions 
placed  on  trade  were  removed,  and  the  intercourse  between 
the  English  and  Chinese  merchants  of  the  Hong  was  re- 
sumed. But  even  then  the  mandarins  refused  to  recognize 
the  trade  superintendents,  and  after  a  short  time  they  issued 
certain  regulations  which  had  been  specially  submitted  to 
and  approved  by  the  Emperor  Taoukwang  as  the  basis  on 
which  trade  was  to  be  conducted.  These  Regulations,  eight 
in  number,  forbade  foreign  men-of-war  to  enter  the  inner 
seas,  and  enforced  the  old  practice  that  all  requests  on  the 
part  of  Europeans  should  be  addressed  through  the  Hong 
in  the  form  of  a  petition.  It  therefore  looked  as  if  the  Chi- 
nese had  completely  triumphed  in  carrying  out  their  views, 
that  the  transfer  of  authority  from  the  East  India  Company 
to  the  British  crown,  with  the  so-called  opening  of  the  trade, 


276  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

had  effected  no  change  in  the  situation,  and  that  such  com- 
merce as  was  carried  on  should  be  as  the  Chinese  dictated, 
and  in  accordance  with  their  main  idea,  which  was  to  "pre- 
vent the  English  establishing  themselves  permanently  at 
Canton."  The  death  of  the  Viceroy  Loo  and  the  familiar- 
ity resulting  from  increased  intercourse  resulted  in  some 
relaxation  of  these  severe  regulations,  and  at  last,  in  March, 
1837,  nearly  three  years  after  Lord  Napier's  arrival  in  the 
Bogue,  the  new  superintendent  of  trade,  Captain  Elliot, 
received,  at  his  own  request,  permission  through  the  Hong 
to  proceed  to  Canton.  The  emperor  passed  a  special  edict 
authorizing  Captain  Elliot  to  reside  in  the  factory  at  Canton, 
where  he  was  to  "control  the  merchants  and  seamen";  but 
it  was  also  stipulated  that  he  was  to  strictly  abide  by  the  old 
regulations,  and  not  to  rank  above  a  supercargo.  As  Cap- 
tain Elliot  was  the  representative  of  a  government  not  less 
proud  or  exacting  than  that  of  China,  it  was  clear  that  these 
conditions  could  not  be  permanently  enforced ;  and  although 
he  endeavored  for  a  period  to  conciliate  the  Chinese  and  to 
obtain  more  favorable  terms  by  concessions,  there  came  a 
time  when  it  was  impossible  to  assent  to  the  arrogant  de- 
mands of  the  mandarins,  and  when  resort  became  necessary 
to  the  ultima  ratio  regum.  But  for  the  first  two  critical 
years  Captain  Elliot  pursued  the  same  policy  as  Lord  Na- 
pier, alternating  concessions  with  threats,  and,  while  vaunt- 
ing the  majesty  of  his  sovereign,  yielding  to  demands  which 
were  unreasonable  and  not  to  be  endured. 

The  balance  of  trade  against  China  was  the  principal 
cause  of  the  export  of  silver,  and  the  balance  of  trade  was 
only  against  China  through  the  increasing  import  of  opium. 
"Without  acquiescing  in  the  least  with  the  strong  allegations 
of  the  anti-opium  party,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
excessive  use  of  opium,  especially  in  a  crowded  city  like  Can- 
ton, was  attended  with  sufficient  mischief  to  justify  its  official 
denunciation.  The  Pekin  government  may  be  so  far  credited 
with  the  honest  intention  to  reduce  the  mischief  and  to  pre- 
vent a  bad  habit  from  becoming  more  and  more  of  a  national 


THE   FIRST  FOREIGN   WAR.  277 

vice,  when  they  determined  for  far  other  reasons  to  place  it 
in  the  front  of  their  tirade  against  foreign  trade  generally. 
They  soon  found  that  it  would  be  more  convenient  and  more 
plausible  to  substitute  the  moral  opposition  to  the  opium  traffic 
for  the  political  disinclination  to  foreign  intercourse  in  any 
form.  They  scarcely  expected  that  in  this  project  they  would 
receive  the  assistance  and  co-operation  of  many  of  the  Euro- 
peans themselves,  who  shared  with  them  the  opinion  that 
opium  was  detestable,  and  its  use  or  sale  a  mark  of  de- 
pravity. 

In  January,  1839,  Taoukwang  ordered  Lin  Tsihseu,  vice- 
roy of  the  double  province  of  Houkwang  and  an  official  of 
high  reputation,  to  proceed  to  Canton  as  Special  Commis- 
sioner to  report  on  the  situation,  and  to  propound  the  best 
remedy  for  the  opium  evil.  At  this  moment  the  anti-opium 
party  was  supreme  in  the  imperial  council,  and  three  Man- 
chu  princes  were  disgraced  and  banished  from  Pekin  for  in- 
dulging in  the  practice.  The  peremptory  instructions  given 
to  Commissioner  Lin,  as  he  is  historically  known,  were  "to 
cut  off  the  fountain  of  evil,  and,  if  necessary  for  the  attain- 
ment of  his  object,  to  sink  his  ships  and  break  his  caldrons, 
for  the  indignation  of  the  great  emperor  has  been  fairly 
aroused  at  these  wicked  practices — of  buying  and  selling 
and  using  opium — and  that  the  hourly  thought  of  his  heart 
is  to  do  away  with  them  forever." 

Before  Lin  reached  Canton  there  had  been  frequent  fric- 
tion between  Captain  Elliot  and  the  local  mandarins,  and 
more  than  one  interruption  of  the  trade.  Less  than  six 
months  after  his  installation  at  Canton  his  official  relations 
were  broken  off,  and  he  wrote  home  to  his  government  a 
dispatch  complaining  of  the  difficulty  of  conducting  any  sort 
of  amicable  relations  with  the  local  mandarins,  and  indors- 
ing the  growing  demand  for  the  right  of  dealing  direct  with 
the  Pekin  government.  Captain  Elliot,  acting  under  in- 
structions from  home,  issued  a  public  notice  warning  all 
English  subjects  to  discontinue  the  illicit  opium  trade,  and 
stating  that  "her  Majesty's  Government  would  not  in  any 


278  A    SHORT  HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

way  interfere  if  the  Chinese  Government  should  think  fit  to 
seize  and  confiscate  the  same." 

At  this  juncture  Commissioner  Lin,  whose  fervor  and 
energy  carried  him  away,  appeared  upon  the  scene,  and, 
whereas  a  less  capable  or  honest  man  would  have  come  to 
an  arrangement  with  Captain  Elliot,  his  very  ability  and 
enthusiasm  tended  to  complicate  the  situation  and  render  a 
pacific  solution  unattainable.  Commissioner  Lin,  on  taking 
up  his  post,  lost  no  time  in  showing  that  he  was  terribly  in 
earnest ;  but  both  his  language  and  his  acts  proved  that  he 
had  a  very  much  larger  programme  than  was  included  in  his 
propaganda  against  the  opium  traffic.  He  wished  to  achieve 
the  complete  humiliation  of  the  foreigners,  and  nothing  less 
would  satisfy  him.  "Within  a  week  of  his  arrival  at  Canton 
he  issued  an  edict  denouncing  the  opium  trade;  throwing 
all  the  blame  for  it  on  the  English,  and  asserting  what  was 
absolutely  untrue;  viz.,  that  "the  laws  of  England  prohib- 
ited the  smoking  of  opium,  and  adjudged  the  user  to  death." 
The  language  of  the  edict  was  unfriendly  and  offensive.  The 
Europeans  were  stigmatized  as  a  barbarous  people,  who 
thought  only  of  trade  and  of  making  their  way  by  stealth 
into  the  Flowery  Land.  At  the  same  time  that  he  issued 
this  edict  he  gave  peremptory  orders  that  no  foreigner  was 
to  leave  Canton  or  Macao  until. the  opium  question  had  been 
settled  to  his  satisfaction.  Even  then  English  merchants 
and  officials,  who  felt  no  great  sympathy  with  the  opium 
traffic,  saw  that  these  proceedings  indicated  an  intention  to 
put  down  the  trade  in  other  articles,  and  to  render  the  posi- 
tion of  foreigners  untenable.  Lin's  demands  culminated  in 
the  request  for  all  stores  of  opium  to  be  surrendered  to  him 
within  three  days.  By  the  efforts  of  some  of  the  merchants 
about  a  thousand  chests  were  collected  and  handed  over  to 
the  Chinese  for  destruction;  but  this  did  not  satisfy  Lin, 
who  collected  a  large  rabble  force,  encamped  it  outside  the 
settlement,  and  threatened  to  carry  the  place  by  storm.  In 
this  crisis  Captain  Elliot,  who  had  declared  that  his  confi- 
dence in  the  justice  and  good  faith  of  the  provincial  govern- 


THE   FIRST  FOREIGN    WAR.  279 

meiit  was  destroyed,  and  who  had  even  drawn  up  a  scheme 
for  concentrating  all  his  forces  at  Hongkong,  called  upon  all 
the  English  merchants  to  surrender  to  him,  for  paramount 
considerations  of  the  lives  and  property  of  every  one  con- 
cerned, all  the  stores  of  opium  in  their  possession.  More 
than  20,000  chests,  of  an  estimated  value  of  $10,000,000,  were 
placed  at  his  disposal,  and  in  due  course  handed  over  by 
him  to  Commissioner  Lin  for  destruction.  This  task  was 
performed  at  Chuenpee,  when  the  opium  was  placed  in 
trenches,  then  mixed  with  salt  and  lime,  and  finally  poured 
off  into  the  sea.  After  this  very  considerable  triumph,  Lin 
wrote  a  letter  to  Queen  Victoria — whose  reign  has  witnessed 
the  most  critical  periods  of  the  China  question  and  its  satis- 
factory settlement — calling  upon  her  Majesty  to  interdict  the 
trade  in  opium  forever.  The  letter  was  as  offensive  in  its 
tone  as  it  was  weak  in  argument,  and  no  answer  was  vouch- 
safed to  it.  Before  any  reply  could  be  given,  the  situation, 
moreover,  had  developed  into  one  of  open  hostilities. 

But  great  as  were  the  concessions  made  by  Captain  El- 
liot, in  consequence  of  the  threatening  attitude  of  Commis- 
sioner Lin,  the  Chinese  were  not  satisfied,  and  made  fresh 
and  more  exacting  demands  of  those  who  had  been  weak 
enough  to  make  any  concession  at  all.  They  reasserted  their 
old  pretension  that  Europeans  in  China  must  be  subject  to 
her  laws,  and  as  the  sale  of  opium  was  a  penal  offense  they 
claimed  the  right  to  punish  those  Englishmen  who  had  been 
connected  with  the  traffic.  They  accordingly  drew  up  a  list 
of  sixteen  of  the  principal  merchants,  some  of  whom  had 
never  had  anything  to  do  with  opium,  and  they  announced 
their  intention  to  arrest  them  and  to  punish  them  with  death. 
Not  only  did  Commissioner  Lin  and  the  Canton  authorities 
claim  the  right  to  condemn  and  punish  British  subjects,  but 
they  showed  in  the  most  insolent  manner  that  they  would 
take  away  their  liberty  and  lives  on  the  flimsiest  and  falsest 
pretext.  Captain  Elliot,  weak  and  yielding  as  he  was  on 
many  points,  declared  that  "this  law  is  incompatible  with 
safe  or  honorable  continuance  at  Canton."     Apparently  the 


•SO  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

Chinese  authorities  acted  on  the  assumption  that  so  long  as 
there  remained  even  one  offending  European  the  mass  of  his 
countrymen  ought  to  be  hindered  in  their  avocations,  and 
consequently  petty  restrictions  and  provocations  continued 
to  be  enforced.  Then  Captain  Elliot,  seeing  that  the  situa- 
tion was  hopeless  and  that  there  was  no  sign  of  improve- 
ment, took  the  bold,  or  at  least  the  pronounced,  step  of  or- 
dering all  British  subjects  to  leave  Canton  or  to  stay  at  their 
own  peril.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  explained  awaj-, 
or  put  a  new  interpretation  on,  his  action  with  regard  to  the 
opium  surrendered  for  destruction,  which  most  of  the  mer- 
chants thought  represented  an  irrecoverable  loss.  It  will  be 
best  to  give  the  precise  words  used  in  his  notice  of  the  22d 
of  May,  1839.  "Acting  on  behalf  of  her  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment in  a  momentous  emergency,  he  has,  in  the  first 
place,  to  signify  that  the  demand  he  recently  made  to  her 
Majesty's  subjects  for  the  surrender  of  British-owned  opium 
under  their  control  had  no  special  reference  to  the  circum- 
stances of  that  property ;  but  (beyond  the  actual  pressure  of 
necessity)  that  demand  was  founded  on  the  principle  that 
these  violent  compulsory  measures  being  utterly  unjust  per 
se  and  of  general  application  for  the  enforced  surrender  of 
any  other  property,  or  of  human  life,  or  for  the  constraint 
of  any  unsuitable  terms  or  concessions,  it  became  highly 
necessary  to  vest  and  leave  the  right  of  exacting  effectual 
security  and  full  indemnity  for  every  loss  directly  in  the 
queen."  Unfortunately,  Captain  Elliot's  language  at  the 
time  of  the  surrender  of  the  opium  had  undoubtedly  led  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  sympathized  with  Commissioner  Lin, 
and  that  he  took  the  same  view  as  the  Chinese  officials  of 
the  moral  iniquity  of  selling  or  using  opium.  The  whole 
mercantile  community  adopted  Captain  Elliot's  counsel,  and 
the  English  factory  at  Canton,  which  had  existed  for  nearly 
two  hundred  years,  was  abandoned.  At  the  same  time  a 
memorial  was  sent  home  begging  the  government  to  protect 
the  English  merchants  in  China  against  "a  capricious  and 
corrupt  government, ' '  and  demanding  compensation  for  the 


THE   FIRST  FOREIGN   WAR  281 

$10,000,000  worth  of  opium  destroyed  by  Commissioner  Lin. 
Pending  the  reply  of  the  home  government  to  that  appeal, 
nothing  could  be  more  complete  than  the  triumph  of  Com- 
missioner Lin.  The  Emperor  Taoukwang  rewarded  him 
with  the  important  viceroyship  of  the  Two  Kiang,  the  seat 
of  which  administratoin  is  at  Nankin. 

But  the  limit  of  endurance  had  been  reached,  and  the 
British  government  was  on  the  point  of  taking  decisive  action 
at  the  very  moment  when  the  Chinese  triumph  seemed  most 
complete  and  unthreatened.  Even  before  the  action  of  the 
home  authorities  was  known  in  the  Bogue  the  situation  ?\ad 
become  critical,  and  the  sailors  in  particular  had  thrown  off 
all  restraint.  Frequent  collisions  occurred  between  them 
and  the  foreigners,  and  in  one  of  them  a  Chinaman  was 
killed.  Commissioner  Lin  characterized  this  act  as  "going 
to  the  extreme  of  disobedience  to  the  laws,"  and  demanded 
the  surrender  of  the  sailor  who  committed  the  act,  so  that 
a  life  might  be  given  for  a  life.  This  demand  was  flatly 
refused,  and  in  consequence  of  the  measures  taken  by  the 
Chinese  at  Lin's  direction  to  prevent  all  supplies  reaching 
the  English,  Captain  Elliot  felt  bound  to  remove  his  resi- 
dence from  Macao  to  Hongkong.  The  Chinese  called  out 
all  their  armed  forces,  and  incited  their  people  along  the 
Canton  River  to  attack  the  foreigners  wherever  found.  An 
official  notice  said,  "Produce  arms  and  weapons;  join  to- 
gether the  stoutest  of  your  villagers,  and  thus  be  prepared 
to  defend  yourselves.  If  any  of  the  said  foreigners  be  found 
going  on  shore  to  cause  trouble,  all  and  every  of  the  people 
are  permitted  to  fire  upon  them,  to  withstand  and  drive  them 
back,  or  to  make  prisoners  of  them."  This  appeal  to  a  force 
which  the  Chinese  did  not  possess  was  an  act  of  indiscretion 
that  betrayed  an  overweening  confidence  or  a  singular  depth 
of  ignorance.  When  the  mandarins  refused  to  supply  the 
ships  with  water  and  other  necessaries  they  carried  their 
animosity  to  a  length  which  the  English  naval  officers  at 
once  defined  as  a  declaration  of  open  hostilities.  They 
retaliated  by  ordering  their  men  to  seize  by  force  whatever 


A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

was  necessary,  and  thus  began  a  state  of  things  which  may 
be  termed  one  of  absolute  warfare.  The  two  men-of-war 
on  the  station  had  several  encounters  with  the  forts  in  the 
Bogue,  and  on  November  3,  1839,  they  fought  a  regular 
engagement  with  a  Chinese  fleet  of  twenty-nine  junks  off 
Chuenpee.  The  Chinese  showed  more  courage  than  skill, 
and  four  of  their  junks  were  sunk.  It  is  worth  noting  that 
the  English  sailors  pronounced  both  their  guns  and  their 
powder  to  be  excellent.  While  this  action  deterred  the  Chi- 
nese fleet  from  coming  to  close  quarters,  it  also  imbittered 
the  contest,  and  there  was  no  longer  room  to  doubt  that  if 
the  Chinese  were  to  be  brought  to  take  a  more  reasonable 
view  of  foreign  trade  it  would  have  to  be  by  the  disagree- 
able lesson  of  force.  And  at  the  end  of  1839  the  Chinese 
were  fully  convinced  that  they  had  the  power  to  carry  out 
their  will  and  to  keep  the  European  nations  out  of  their 
country  by  the  strong  hand. 

A  short  time  after  the  action  at  Chuenpee  an  English- 
man named  Mr.  Gribble  was  seized  by  the  Canton  officials 
and  thrown  into  prison.  The  English  men-of-war  went  up 
the  river  as  far  as  the  Bogue  forts,  which  they  threatened  to 
bombard  unless  he  was  released;  and,  after  considerable 
discussion,  Mr.  Gribble  was  set  free,  mainly  because  the 
Chinese  heard  of  the  large  force  that  was  on  its  way  from 
England.  Before  that  armament  arrived  the  Emperor 
Taoukwang  had  committed  himself  still  further  to  a  policy 
of  hostility.  A  report  of  the  fight  at  Chuenpee  was  duly 
submitted  to  him,  but  the  affair  was  represented  as  a  very 
creditable  one  for  his  commander,  and  as  a  Chinese  victory. 
The  misled  monarch  at  once  conferred  a  high  honor  on  his 
admiral,  and  commanded  his  officers  at  Canton  "to  at  once 
put  a  stop  to  the  trade  of  the  English  nation."  This  had, 
practically  speaking,  been  already  accomplished,  and  the 
English  merchants  had  taken  refuge  at  Macao  or  in  their 
ships  anchored  at  Hongkong, 

Before  describing  the  military  operations  now  about  to 
take  place,  a  survey  may  conveniently  be  taken  of  events 


THE   FIRST   FOREIGN    WAR.  283 

since  the  abolition  of  the  monopoly,  and  it  may  be  pardon- 
able to  employ  the  language  formerly  used.  From  an 
impartial  review  of  the  facts,  and  divesting  our  minds,  so 
far  as  is  humanly  possible,  of  the  prejudice  of  Accepted 
political  opinions,  and  of  conviction  as  to  the  hurtful  or 
innocent  character  of  opium  in  the  mixture  as  smoked  by 
the  Chinese,  it  cannot  be  contended  that  the  course  pursued 
by  Lord  Napier  and  Captain  Elliot,  and  particularly  by  the 
latter,  was  either  prudent  in  itself  or  calculated  to  promote 
the  advantage  and  reputation  of  England.  Captain  Elliot's 
proceedings  were  marked  by  the  inconsistency  that  springs 
from  ignorance.  The  more  influential  English  merchants, 
touched  by  the  appeal  to  their  moral  sentiment,  or  impressed 
by  the  depravity  of  large  classes  of  the  Canton  population, 
of  which  the  practice  of  opium-smoking  was  rather  the  mark 
than  the  cause,  set  their  faces  against  the  traffic  in  this 
article,  and  repudiated  all  sympathy  and  participation  in  it. 
The  various  foreign  publications,  whether  they  received  their 
inspirations  from  Mr.  Gutzlaff  or  not  matters  little,  differed 
on  most  points,  but  were  agreed  on  this,  that  the  trade  in 
opium  was  morally  indefensible,  and  that  we  were  bound, 
not  only  by  our  own  interests,  but  in  virtue  of  the  common 
obligations  of  humanity,  to  cease  to  hold  all  connection  with 
it.  Those  who  had  surrendered  their  stores  of  opium  at  the 
request  of  Captain  Elliot  held  that  their  claim  for  compensa- 
tion was  valid,  in  the  first  place,  against  the  English  govern- 
ment alone.  They  had  given  them  up  for  the  service  of  the 
country  at  the  request  of  the  queen's  representative,  and, 
considering  the  line  which  Captain  Elliot  had  taken,  many 
believed  that  it  would  be  quite  impossible  for  the  English 
government  to  put  forward  any  demand  upon  the  govern- 
ment of  China.  The  ten  million  dollars,  according  to 
these  large-hearted  and  unreflecting  moralists,  would  have 
to  be  sacrificed  by  the  people  of  England  in  the  cause  of 
humanity,  to  which  they  had  given  so  much  by  emancipat- 
ing the  slaves,  and  the  revenue  of  India  should,  for  the  fu- 
ture, be  poorer  by  the  amount  that  used  to  pay  the  dividend 


284  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

of  the  great  Company !  The  Chinese  authorities  could  not 
help  being  encouraged  in  their  opinions  and  course  of  pro- 
ceeding by  the  attitude  of  the  English.  Their  most  sweep- 
ing denunciations  of  the  iniquity  of  the  opium  traffic  elicited 
a  murmur  of  approval  from  the  most  influential  among  the 
foreigners.  No  European  stood  up  to  say  that  their  allega- 
tions as  to  the  evil  of  using  opium  were  baseless  and  absurd. 
What  is  more,  no  one  thought  it.  Had  the  Chinese  made 
sufficient  use  of  this  identity  of  views,  and  shown  a  desire 
to  facilitate  trade  in  the  so-called  innocent  and  legitimate 
articles,  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  opium  traffic  would 
have  been  reduced  to  very  small  dimensions,  because  there 
would  have  been  no  rupture.  But  the  action  of  Commis- 
sioner Lin  revealed  the  truth  that  the  Chinese  were  not  to 
be  satisfied  with  a  single  triumph.  The  more  easily  they 
obtained  their  objects  in  the  opium  matter  the  more  anxious 
did  they  become  to  impress  the  foreigners  with  a  sense  of 
their  inferiority,  and  to  force  them  to  accept  the  most  onerous 
and  unjust  conditions  for  the  sake  of  a  continuance  of  the 
trade.  None  the  less,  Captain  Elliot  went  out  of  his  way  to 
tie  his  own  hands,  and  to  bind  his  own  government,  so  far 
as  he  could,  to  co-operate  with  the  emperor's  officials  in  the 
suppression  of  the  opium  traffic.  That  this  is  no  random 
assertion  may  be  judged  from  the  following  official  notice, 
issued  several  months  after  the  surrender  of  tho  stores  of 
opium.  In  this  Captain  Elliot  announced  that  "Her  Maj- 
esty's flag  does  not  fly  in  the  protection  of  a  traffic  declared 
illegal  by  the  emperor,  and,  therefore,  whenever  a  vessel 
is  suspected  of  having  opium  on  board  Captain  Elliot  will 
take  care  that  the  officers  of  his  establishment  shall  accom- 
pany the  Chinese  officers  in  their  search,  and  that  if,  after 
strict  investigation,  opium  shall  be  found,  he  will  offer  no 
objection  to  the  seizure  and  confiscation  of  tha  cargo." 

The  British  expedition  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Can- 
ton River  in  the  month  of  June,  1840.  It  consisted  of  4,000 
troops  on  board  twenty-five  transports,  with  a  convoy  of 
fifteen  men-of-war.     If  it  was  thought  that  this  considerable 


THE   FIRST  FOREIGN   WAR.  285 

force  would  attain  its  objects  without  fighting  and  merely 
by  making  a  demonstration,  the  expectation  was  rudely  dis- 
appointed. The  reply  of  Commissioner  Lin  was  to  place  a 
reward  on  the  person  of  all  Englishmen,  and  to  offer  $20,000 
for  the  destruction  of  an  English  man-of-war.  The  English 
fleet  replied  to  this  hostile  step  by  instituting  a  close  blockade 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  which  was  not  an  ineffectual  re- 
tort. Sir  Gordon  Bremer,  the  commander  of  the  first  part 
of  the  expedition,  came  promptly  to  the  decision  that  it  would 
be  well  to  extend  the  sphere  of  his  operations,  and  he  accord- 
ingly sailed  northward  with  a  portion  of  his  force  to  occupy 
the  island  of  Chusan,  which  had  witnessed  some  of  the 
earliest  operations  of  the  East  India  Company  two  centuries 
before.  The  capture  of  Chusan  presented  no  difficulties  to  a 
well-equipped  force,  yet  the  fidelity  of  its  garrison  and  inhab- 
itants calls  for  notice  as  a  striking  instance  of  patriotism. 
The  officials  at  Tinghai,  the  capital  of  Chusan,  refused  to 
surrender,  as  their  duty  to  their  emperor  would  not  admit 
of  their  giving  up  one  of  his  possessions.  It  was  their  duty 
to  fight,  and  although  they  admitted  resistance  to  be  useless, 
they  refused  to  yield,  save  to  force.  The  English  commander 
reluctantly  ordered  a  bombardment,  and  after  a  few  hours 
the  Chinese  defenses  were  demolished,  and  Tinghai  was 
occupied.  Chusan  remained  in  our  possession  as  a  base  of 
operations  during  the  greater  part  of  the  war,  but  its  insalu- 
brity rather  dissipated  the  reputation  it  had  acquired  as  an 
advantageous  and  well-placed  station  for  operations  on  the 
coast  of  China.  Almost  at  the  same  time  as  the  attack  on 
Chusan,  hostilities  were  recommenced  against  the  Chinese 
on  the  Canton  River,  in  consequence  of  the  carrying  off  of 
a  British  subject,  Mr.  Vincent  Stanton,  from  Macao.  The 
barrier  forts  were  attacked  by  two  English  men-of-war  and 
two  smaller  vessels.  After  a  heavy  bombardment,  a  force 
of  marines  and  blue-jackets  was  landed,  and  the  Chinese 
positions  carried.  The  forts  and  barracks  were  destroyed, 
and  Mr.  Stanton  released.  Then  it  was  said  that  "China 
must  either  bend  or  break,"  for  the  hour  of  English  for- 


28G  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

bearance  had  passed  away,  and  unless  China  could  vindicate 
her  policy  by  force  of  arms  there  was  no  longer  any  doubt 
that  she  would  have  to  give  way. 

While  these  preliminary  military  events  were  occurring, 
the  diplomatic  side  of  the  question  was  also  in  evidence. 
Lord  Palmerston  had  written  a  letter  stating  in  categorical 
language  what  he  expected  at  the  hands  of  the  Chinese 
government,  and  he  had  directed  that  it  should  be  delivered 
into  nobody  else's  hands  but  the  responsible  ministers  of  the 
Emperor  Taoukwang.  The  primary  task  of  the  English 
expedition  was  to  give  this  dispatch  to  some  high  Chinese 
official  who  seemed  competent  to  convey  it  to  Pekin.  This 
task  proved  one  of  unexpected  difficulty,  for  the  mandarins, 
basing  their  refusal  on  the  strict  letter  of  their  duty,  which 
forbade  them  to  hold  any  intercourse  with  foreigners,  re- 
turned the  document,  and  declared  that  they  could  not 
receive  it.  This  happened  at  Amoy  and  again  at  Ningpo, 
and  the  occupation  of  Chusan  did  not  bring  our  authorities 
any  nearer  to  realizing  their  mission.  Baffled  in  these 
attempts,  the  fleet  sailed  north  for  the  mouth  of  the  Peiho, 
when  at  last  Lord  Palmerston 's  letter  was  accepted  by 
Keshen,  the  viceroy  of  the  province,  and  duly  forwarded 
by  him  to  Pekin.  The  arrival  of  the  English  fleet  awoke 
the  Chinese  court  for  the  time  being  from  its  indifference, 
and  Taoukwang  not  merely  ordered  that  the  fleet  should  be 
provided  with  all  the  supplies  it  needed,  but  appointed  Keshen 
High  Commissioner  for  the  conclusion  of  an  amicable  ar- 
rangement. The  difficulty  thus  seemed  in  a  fair  way  toward 
settlement,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  only  at  its  com- 
mencement, for  the  wiles  of  Chinese  diplomacy  are  infinite 
and  were  then  only  partially  understood.  Keshen  was  re- 
markable for  his  astuteness  and  for  the  yielding  exterior 
which  covered  a  purpose  of  iron,  and  in  the  English  political 
officer,  the  Captain  Elliot  of  Canton,  he  did  not  find  an  oppo- 
nent worthy  of  his  steel.  Although  experience  had  shown 
how  great  were  the  delays  of  negotiation  at  Canton,  and  how 
inaccessible  were  the  local  officials,  Captain  Elliot  allowed 


THE   FIRST  FOREIGN    WAR.  287 

himself  to  be  persuaded  that  the  best  place  to  carry  on 
negotiations  was  at  that  city,  and  after  a  brief  delay  the 
fleet  was  withdrawn  from  the  Peiho  and  all  the  advantages 
of  the  alarm  created  by  its  presence  at  Pekin  were  surren- 
dered. Relieved  by  the  departure  of  the  foreign  ships, 
Taoukwang  sent  orders  for  the  dispatch  of  forces  from  the 
inland  provinces,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  resume  the 
struggle  with  the  English  under  more  favorable  conditions, 
and  at  the  same  time  he  hastened  to  relieve  his  overcharged 
feelings  by  punishing  the  man  whom  he  regarded  as  respon- 
sible for  his  misfortunes  and  humiliation.  The  full  weight 
of  the  imperial  wrath  fell  on  Commissioner  Lin,  who  from 
the  position  of  the  foremost  official  in  China  fell  at  a  stroke 
of  the  vermilion  pencil  to  a  public  criminal  arraigned  before 
the  Board  of  Punishments  to  receive  his  deserts.  He  was 
stripped  of  all  his  offices,  and  ordered  to  proceed  to  Pekin, 
where,  however,  his  life  was  spared. 

Keshen  arrived  at  Canton  on  November  29,  1840,  but  his 
dispatch  to  the  emperor  explaining  the  position  he  found 
there  shows  that  his  view  of  the  situation  did  not  differ  ma- 
terially from  that  of  Lin.  "Night  and  day  I  have  consid- 
ered and  examined  the  state  of  our  relations  with  the  En- 
glish. At  first  moved  by  the  benevolence  of  his  Majesty 
and  the  severity  of  the  laws,  they  surrendered  the  opium. 
Commissioner  Lin  commanded  them  to  give  bonds  that  they 
would  never  more  deal  in  opium — a  most  excellent  plan  for 
securing  future  good  conduct.  This  the  English  refused  to 
give,  and  then  they  trifled  with  the  laws,  and  so  obstinate 
were  their  dispositions  that  they  could  not  be  made  to  submit. 
Hence  it  becomes  necessary  to  soothe  and  admonish  them 
with  sound  instruction,  so  as  to  cause  them  to  change  their 
mien  and  purify  their  hearts,  after  which  it  will  not  be  too 
late  to  renew  their  commerce.  It  behooves  me  to  instruct 
and  persuade  them  so  that  their  good  consciences  may  be 
restored,  and  they  reduced  to  submission."  The  language 
of  this  document  showed  that  the  highest  Chinese  officers 
still  believed  that  the  English  would  accept  trade  facilities 


288  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

as  a  favor,  that  they  would  be  treated  de  haut  en  has,  and 
that  China  possessed  the  power  +o  make  good  her  lofty- 
pretensions.  China  had  learned  nothing  from  her  military 
mishaps  at  Canton,  Amoy,  and  Chusan,  and  from  the  ap- 
pearance of  an  English  fleet  in  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli.  Keshen 
had  gained  a  breathing  space  by  procrastination  in  the  north, 
and  he  resorted  to  the  same  tactics  at  Canton.  Days  ex- 
panded into  weeks,  and  at  last  orders  were  issued  for  an 
advance  up  the  Canton  River,  as  it  had  become  evident  that 
the  Chinese  were  not  only  bent  on  an  obstructive  policy, 
but  were  making  energetic  efforts  to  assemble  a  large  army. 
On  January  7,  1841,  orders  were  consequently  issued  for  an 
immediate  attack  on  the  Bogue  forts,  which  had  been  placed 
in  a  state  of  defense,  and  which  were  manned  by  large  num- 
bers of  Chinese.  Fortunately  for  us,  the  Chinese  possessed 
a  very  rudimentary  knowledge  of  the  art  of  war,  and  showed 
no  capacity  to  take  advantage  of  the  strength  of  their  posi- 
tion and  forts,  or  even  of  their  excellent  guns.  The  troops 
were  landed  on  the  coast  in  the  early  morning  to  operate  on 
the  flank  and  rear  of  the  forts  at  Chuenpee.  The  advance 
squadron,  under  Captain,  afterward  Sir  Thomas,  Herbert, 
was  to  engage  the  same  forts  in  front,  while  the  remainder 
of  the  fleet  proceeded  to  attack  the  stockades  on  the  adjoin- 
ing island  of  Taikok.  The  land  force  of  1,500  men  and  three 
guns  had  not  proceeded  far  along  the  coast  before  it  came 
across  a  strongly  intrenched  camp  in  addition  to  the  Chuen- 
pee forts,  with  several  thousand  troops  and  many  guns  in 
position.  After  a  sharp  cannonade  the  forts  were  carried 
at  a  rush,  and  a  formidable  army  was  driven  ignominiously 
out  of  its  intrenchments  with  hardly  any  loss  to  the  assail- 
ants. The  forts  at  Taikok  were  destroyed  by  the  fire  of  the 
ships,  and  their  guns  spiked  and  garrisons  routed  by  storm- 
ing parties.  In  all,  the  Chinese  lost  500  killed,  besides  an 
incalculable  number  of  wounded,  and  many  junks.  The 
Chinese  showed  some  courage  as  well  as  incompetence,  and 
the  English  officers  described  their  defense  as  "obstinate 
and  honorable." 


THE   FIRST  FOREIGN   WAR.  289 

The  capture  of  the  Bogue  forts  produced  immediate  and 
important  consequences.  Keshen  at  once  begged  a  cessation 
of  hostilities,  and  offered  terms  which  conceded  everything 
we  had  demanded.  These  were  the  payment  of  a  large  in- 
demnity, the  cession  of  Hongkong,  and  the  right  to  hold 
official  communication  with  the  central  government.  In 
accordance  with  these  preliminary  articles,  Hongkong  was 
proclaimed,  on  January  29,  1841,  a  British  possession,  and 
the  troops  evacuated  Chusan  to  garrison  the  new  station. 
It  was  not  considered  at  the  time  that  the  acquisition  was 
of  much  importance,  and  no  one  would  have  predicted  for 
it  the  brilliant  and  prosperous  position  it  has  since  attained. 
But  the  promises  given  by  Keshen  were  merely  to  gain  time 
and  to  extricate  him  from  a  very  embarrassing  situation. 
The  morrow  of  what  seemed  a  signal  reverse  was  marked 
by  the  issue  of  an  imperial  notice,  breathing  a  more  defiant 
tone  than  ever.  Taoukwang  declared,  in  this  edict,  that  he 
was  resolved  "to  destroy  and  wash  the  foreigners  away 
without  remorse,"  and  he  denounced  the  English  by  name 
as  "staying  themselves  upon  their  pride  of  power  and  fierce 
strength."  He,  therefore,  called  upon  his  officers  to  proceed 
with  courage  and  energy,  so  that  "the  rebellious  foreigners 
might  give  up  their  ringleaders,  to  be  sent  encaged  to  Pekin, 
to  receive  the  utmost  retribution  of  the  laws."  So  long  as 
the  sovereign  held  such  opinions  as  these  it  was  evident  that 
no  arrangement  could  endure.  The  Chinese  did  not  admit 
the  principle  of  equality  in  their  dealings  with  the  English, 
and  this  was  the  main  point  in  contention,  far  more  than 
the  alleged  evils  of  the  opium  traffic.  So  long  as  Taoukwang 
and  his  ministers  held  the  opinions  which  they  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  express,  a  friendly  intercourse  was  impossible.  There 
was  no  practical  alternative  between  withdrawing  from  the 
country  altogether  and  leaving  the  Chinese  in  undisturbed 
seclusion,  or  forcing  their  government  to  recognize  a  com- 
mon humanity  and  an  equality  in  national  privileges. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  under  these  circumstances  the 
suspension  of  hostilities  proved  of  brief  duration.     The  con- 

13 


890  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

flict  was  hastened  by  the  removal  of  Keshen  from  his  post, 
in  consequence  of  his  having  reported  that  he  considered  the 
Chinese  forces  unequal  to  the  task  of  opposing  the  English. 
His  candor  in  recognizing  facts  did  him  credit,  while  it  cost 
him  his  position;  and  his  successor,  Eleang,  was  compelled 
to  take  an  opposite  view,  and  to  attempt  something  to  justify 
it.  Eleang  refused  to  ratify  the  convention  signed  by  Keshen, 
and,  on  February  25,  the  English  commander  ordered  an 
attack  on  the  inner  line  of  forts  which  guarded  the  ap- 
proaches to  Canton.  After  a  brief  engagement,  the  really 
formidable  lines  of  Anunghoy,  with  200  guns  in  position, 
were  carried  at  a  nominal  loss.  The  many  other  positions  of 
the  Chinese,  up  to  Whampoa,  were  occupied  in  succession; 
and  on  March  1  the  English  squadron  drew  up  off  HoWqua's 
Folly,  in  Whampoa  Reach,  at  the  very  gateway  of  Canton. 
On  the  following  day  the  dashing  Sir  Hugh  Gough  arrived 
to  take  the  supreme  direction  of  the  English  forces.  After 
these  further  reverses,  the  Chinese  again  begged  a  suspen- 
sion of  hostilities,  and  an  armistice  for  a  few  days  was 
granted.  The  local  authorities  were  on  the  horns  of  a 
dilemma.  They  saw  the  futility  of  a  struggle  with  the 
English,  and  the  Cantonese  had  to  bear  all  the  suffering 
for  the  obstinacy  of  the  Pekin  government ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  one  dared  to  propose  concession  to  Taoukwang, 
who,  confident  of  his  power,  and  ignorant  of  the  extent  of 
his  misfortunes,  breathed  nothing  but  defiance.  After  a  few 
days'  delay,  it  became  clear  that  the  Cantonese  had  neither 
the  will  nor  the  power  to  conclude  a  definite  arrangement, 
and  consequently  their  city  was  attacked  with  as  much  for- 
bearance as  possible.  The  fort  called  Dutch  Folly  was  cap- 
tured, and  the  outer  line  of  defenses  was  taken  possession 
of,  but  no  attempt  was  made  to  occupy  the  city  itself.  Sir 
Hugh  Gough  stated,  in  a  public  notice,  that  the  city  was 
spared  because  the  queen  had  desired  that  all  peaceful  people 
should  be  tenderly  considered.  The  first  English  successes 
had  entailed  the  disgrace  of  Lin,  the .  second  were  not  less 
fatal  to  Keshen.     Keshen  was  arraigned  before  the  Board 


THE   FIRST    FOREIGN    WAR.  291 

at  Pekin,  his  valuable  property  was  escheated  to  the  crown, 
and  he  himself  sentenced  to  decapitation,  which  was  com- 
muted to  banishment  to  Tibet,  where  he  succeeded  in  amass- 
ing a  fresh  fortune.  The  success  of  the  English  was  pro- 
claimed by  the  merchants  re-occupying  their  factories  on 
March  18,  1841,  exactly  two  years  after  Lin's  first  fiery  edict 
against  opium.  It  was  a  strange  feature  in  this  struggle 
that  the  instant  they  did  so  the  Chinese  merchants  resumed 
trade  with  undiminshed  ardor  and  cordiality.  The  officials 
even  showed  an  inclination  to  follow  their  example,  when 
they  learned  that  Taoukwang  refused  to  listen  to  any  con- 
clusive peace,  and  that  his  policy  was  still  one  of  expelling 
the  foreigners.  To  carry  out  his  views,  the  emperor  sent  a 
new  commission  of  three  members  to  Canton,  and  it  was 
their  studious  avoidance  of  all  communication  with  the  En- 
glish authorities  that  again  aroused  suspicion  as  to  the  Chi. 
nese  not  being  sincere  in  their  assent  to  the  convention  which 
had  saved  Canton  from  an  English  occupation.  Taoukwang 
was  ignorant  of  the  success  of  his  enemy,  and  his  commis- 
sioners, sent  to  achieve  what  Lin  and  Keshen  had  failed  to 
do,  were  fully  resolved  not  to  recognize  the  position  which 
the  English  had  obtained  by  force  of  arms,  or  to  admit  that 
it  was  likely  to  prove  enduring.  This  confidence  was  in- 
creased by  the  continuous  arrival  of  fresh  troops,  until  at 
last  there  were  50,000  men  in  the  neighborhood  of  Canton, 
and  all  seemed  ready  to  tempt  the  fortune  of  war  again,  and 
to  make  another  effort  to  expel  the  hated  foreigner.  The 
measure  of  Taoukwang's  animosity  may  be  taken  by  his 
threatening  to  punish  with  death  any  one  who  suggested 
making  peace  with  the  barbarians. 

While  the  merchants  were  actively  engaged  in  their  com- 
mercial operations,  and  the  English  officers  in  conducting 
negotiations  with  a  functionary  who  had  no  authority,  and 
who  was  only  put  forward  to  amuse  them,  the  Chinese  were 
busily  employed  in  completing  their  warlike  preparations, 
which  at  the  same  time  they  kept  as  secret  as  possible,  in 
the  hope  of  taking  the  English  by  surprise.     But  it  was 


292  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

impossible  for  such  extensive  preparations  to  be  made  with- 
out their  creating  some  stir,  and  the  standing  aloof  of  the 
commissioners  was  in  itself  ground  of  suspicion.  Suspicion 
became  certainty  when,  on  Captain  Elliot  paying  a  visit  to 
the  prefect  in  the  city,  he  was  received  in  a  disrespectful 
manner  by  the  mandarins  and  insulted  in  the  streets  by  the 
crowd.  He  at  once  acquainted  Sir  Hugh  Gough,  who  was 
at  Hongkong,  with  the  occurrence,  and  issued  a  notice,  on 
May  21,  1841,  advising  all  foreigners  to  leave  Canton  that 
day.  This  notice  was  not  a  day  too  soon,  for,  during  the 
night,  the  Chinese  made  a  desperate  attempt  to  carry  out 
their  scheme.  The  batteries  which  they  had  secretly  erected 
at  various  points  in  the  city  and  along  the  river  banks  began 
to  bombard  the  factories  and  the  ships  at  the  same  time  that 
fire-rafts  were  sent  against  the  latter  in  the  hope  of  causing 
a  conflagration.  Fortunately  the  Chinese  were  completely 
baffled,  with  heavy  loss  to  themselves  and  none  to  the  En- 
glish; and  during  the  following  day  the  English  assumed 
the  offensive,  and  with  such  effect  that  all  the  Chinese  bat- 
teries were  destroyed,  together  with  forty  war- junks.  The 
only  exploit  on  which  the  Chinese  could  compliment  them- 
selves was  that  they  had  sacked  and  gutted  the  English 
factory.  This  incident  made  it  clearer  than  ever  that  the 
Chinese  government  would  only  be  amenable  to  force,  and 
that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  inflict  some  weighty  pun- 
ishment on  the  Chinese  leaders  at  Canton,  who  had  made  so 
bad  a  return  for  the  moderation  shown  them  and  their  city, 
and  who  had  evidently  no  intention  of  complying  with  the 
arrangement  to  which  they  had  been  a  party. 

Sir 'Hugh  Gough  arrived  at  Canton  with  all  his  forces  on 
May  24,  and  on  the  following  morning  the  attack  commenced 
with  the  advance  of  the  fleet  up  the  Macao  passage,  and  with 
the  landing  of  bodies  of  troops  at  different  points  which  ap- 
peared well  suited  for  turning  the  Chinese  position  and 
attacking  the  gates  of  Canton.  The  Chinese  did  not  molest 
the  troops  in  landing,  which  was  fortunate,  as  the  operation 
proved  exceedingly  difficult  and  occupied  more  than  a  whole 


THE    FIRST   FOREIGN   WAR.  293 

day.  The  Chinese  had  taken  up  a  strong  position  on  the 
hills  lying  north  of  the  city,  and  they  showed  considerable 
judgment  in  their  selection,  and  no  small  skill  in  strengthen- 
ing their  ground  by  a  line  of  forts.  The  Chinese  were  said 
to  be  full  of  confidence  in  their  ability  to  reverse  the  previous 
fortune  of  the  war,  and  they  fought  with  considerable  con- 
fidence, while  the  turbulent  Cantonese  populace  waited  im- 
patiently on  the  walls  to  take  advantage  of  the  first  symptoms 
of  defeat  among  the  English  troops.  The  English  army, 
divided  into  two  columns  of  nearly  2,000  men  each,  with 
a  strong  artillery  force  of  seven  guns,  four  howitzers,  five 
mortars,  and  fifty-two  rockets,  advanced  on  the  Chinese 
intrenchments  across  paddy  fields,  rendered  more  difficult 
of  passage  by  numerous  burial-grounds.  The  obstacles  were 
considerable  and  the  progress  was  slow,  but  the  Chinese  did 
not  attempt  any  opposition.  Then  the  battle  began  with  the 
bombardment  of  the  Chinese  lines,  and  after  an  hour  it 
seemed  as  if  the  Chinese  had  had  enough  of  this  and  were 
preparing  for  flight,  when  a  general  advance  was  ordered. 
But  the  Chinese  thought  better  of  their  intention  or  their 
movement  was  misunderstood,  for  when  the  English  streamed 
up  the  hill  to  attack  them  they  stood  to  their  guns  and  pre- 
sented a  brave  front.  Three  of  their  forts  were  carried  with 
little  or  no  loss,  but  at  the  fourth  they  offered  a  stubborn  if 
ill-directed  resistance.  Even  then  the  engagement  was  not 
over,  for  the  Chinese  rallied  in  an  intrenched  camp  one  mile 
in  the  rear  of  the  forts,  and,  rendered  confident  by  their 
numbers,  they  resolved  to  make  a  fresh  stand,  and  hurled 
defiance  at  the  foreigners.  The  English  troops  never  halted 
in  their  advance,  and,  led  by  the  18th  or  Royal  Irish,  they 
carried  the  intrenchment  at  a  rush  and  put  the  whole  Chi- 
nese army  to  flight.  The  English  lost  seventy  killed  and 
wounded,  the  Chinese  losses  were  never  accurately  known. 
It  was  arranged  that  Canton  was  to  be  stormed  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  but  a  terrific  hurricane  and  deluge  of  rain  pre- 
vented all  military  movements  on  May  26,  and,  as  it  proved, 
saved  the  city  from  attack.     Once  more  Chinese  diplomacy 


294  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

came  to  the  relief  of  Chinese  arms.  To  save  Canton  the 
mandarins  were  quite  prepared  to  make  every  concession, 
if  they  only  attached  a  temporary  significance  to  their  lan- 
guage, and  they  employed  the  whole  of  that  lucky  wet  day 
in  getting  round  Captain  Elliot,  who  once  more  allowed 
himself  to  place  faith  in  the  promises  of  the  Chinese.  The 
result  of  this  was  seen  on  the  27th,  when,  just  as  Sir  Hugh 
Gough  was  giving  orders  for  the  assault,  he  received  a 
message  from  Captain  Elliot  stating  that  the  Chinese  had 
come  to  terms  and  that  all  hostilities  were  to  be  suspended. 
The  terms  the  Chinese  had  agreed  to  in  a  few  hours  were 
that  the  commissioners  and  all  the  troops  should  retire  to  a 
distance  of  sixty  miles  from  Canton,  and  that  $6,000,000 
should  be  paid  "for  the  use  of  the  English  crown." 

Five  of  the  $6,000,000  had  been  handed  over  to  Captain 
Elliot,  and  amicable  relations  had  been  established  with  the 
city  authorities,  when  the  imperial  commissioners,  either 
alarmed  at  the  penalties  their  failure  entailed,  or  encouraged 
to  believe  in  the  renewed  chances  of  success  from  the  impo- 
tence into  which  the  English  troops  might  have  sunk,  made 
a  sudden  attempt  to  surprise  Sir  Hugh  Gough's  camp  and 
to  retrieve  a  succession  of  disasters  at  a  single  stroke.  The 
project  was  not  without  a  chance  of  success,  but  it  required 
prompt  action  and  no  hesitation  in  coming  to  close  quarters 
— the  two  qualifications  in  which  the  Chinese  were  most 
deficient.  So  it  was  on  this  occasion.  Ten  or  fifteen  thou- 
sand Chinese  braves  suddenly  appeared  on  the  hills  about 
two  miles  north  of  the  English  camp;  but  instead  of  seizing 
the  opportunity  created  by  the  surprise  at  their  sudden  ap- 
pearance and  at  the  breach  of  armistice,  and  delivering  home 
their  attack,  they  merely  waved  their  banners  and  uttered 
threats  of  defiance.  They  stood  their  ground  for  some  time 
in  face  of  the  rifle  and  artillery  fire  opened  upon  them,  and 
then  they  kept  up  a  sort  of  running  fight  for  three  miles  as 
they  were  pursued  by  the  English.  They  did  not  suffer  any 
serious  loss,  and  when  the  English  troops  retired  in  conse- 
quence of  a  heavy  storm  they  became  in  turn  the  pursuers 


THE    FIRST    FOREIGN   WAR.  295 

and  inflicted  a  few  casualties.  The  advantages  they  obtained 
were  due  to  the  terrific  weather  more  than  to  their  courage, 
but  one  party  of  Madras  sepoys  lost  its  way,  and  was  sur- 
rounded by  so  overwhelming  a  number  of  Chinese  that  they 
would  have  been  annihilated  but  that  their  absence  was  fort- 
unately discovered  and  a  rescuing  party  of  marines,  armed 
with  the  new  percussion  gun,  which  was  to  a  great  degree 
secure  against  the  weather,  went  out  to  their  assistance. 
They  found  the  sepoys,  under  their  two  English  officers, 
drawn  up  in  a  square  firing  as  best  they  could  and  presenting 
a  bold  front  to  the  foe— "many  of  the  sepoys,  after  extract- 
ing the  wet  cartridge  very  deliberately,  tore  their  pocket 
handkerchiefs  or  lining  from  their  turbans  and,  baling  water 
with  their  hands  into  the  barrel  of  their  pieces,  washed  and 
dried  them,  thus  enabling  them  to  fire  an  occasional  volley." 
Out  of  sixty  sepoys  one  was  killed  and  fourteen  wounded. 
After  this  Sir  Hugh  Gough  threatened  to  bombard  Canton 
if  there  were  any  more  attacks  on  his  camp,  and  they  at  once 
ceased,  and  when  the  whole  of  the  indemnity  was  paid  the 
English  troops  were  withdrawn,  leaving  Canton  as  it  was, 
for  a  second  time  "a  record  of  British  magnanimity  and 
forbearance." 

After  this  trade  reverted  to  its  former  footing,  and  by 
the  Canton  convention,  signed  by  the  imperial  commission- 
ers in  July,  1841,  the  English  obtained  all  the  privileges 
they  could  hope  for  from  the  local  authorities.  But  it  was 
essentially  a  truce,  not  a  treaty,  and  the  great  point  of  direct 
intercourse  with  the  central  government  was  no  nearer  set- 
tlement than  ever.  At  this  moment  Sir  Henry  Pottinger 
arrived  as  Plenipotentiary  from  England,  and  he  at  once  set 
himself  to  obtaining  a  formal  recognition  from  the  Pekin 
executive  of  his  position  and  the  admission  of  his  right  to 
address  them  on  diplomatic  business.  With  the  view  of 
pressing  this  matter  on  the  attention  of  Taoukwang,  who 
personally  had  not  deviated  from  his  original  attitude  of  em- 
phatic hostility,  Sir  Henry  Pottinger  sailed  northward  with 
the  fleet  and  a  large  portion  of  the  land  forces  about  the  end 


296  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

of  August.  The  important  seaport  of  Amoy  was  attacked 
and  taken  after  what  was  called  "a  short  but  animated  re- 
sistance." This  town  is  situated  on  an  island,  the  largest 
of  a  group  lying  at  the  entrance  to  the  estuary  of  Lung- 
kiang,  and  it  has  long  been  famous  as  a  convenient  port  and 
flourishing  place  of  trade.  The  Chinese  had  raised  a  ram- 
part of  1,100  yards  in  length,  and  this  they  had  armed  with 
ninety  guns,  while  a  battery  of  forty-two  guns  protected  its 
flank.  Kulangsu  was  also  fortified,  and  the  Chinese  had 
placed  in  all  500  guns  in  position.  They  believed  in  the 
impregnability  of  Amoy,  and  it  was  allowed  that  no  incon- 
siderable skill  as  well  as  great  expense  had  been  devoted  to 
the  strengthening  of  the  place.  When  the  English  fleet  ar- 
rived off  the  port  the  Chinese  sent  a  flag  of  truce  to  demand 
what  it  wanted,  and  they  were  informed  the  surrender  of 
the  town.  The  necessity  for  this  measure  would  be  hard 
to  justify,  especially  as  we  were  nominally  at  peace  with 
China,  for  the  people  of  Amoy  had  inflicted  no  injury  on 
our  trade,  and  their  chastisement  would  not  bring  us  any 
nearer  to  Pekin.  Nor  was  the  occupation  of  Amoy  neces- 
sary on  military  grounds.  It  was  strong  only  for  itself,  and 
its  capture  had  no  important  consequences.  As  the  Chinese 
determined  to  resist  the  English,  the  fleet  engaged  the  bat- 
teries, and  the  Chinese,  standing  to  their  guns  "right  man- 
fully," only  abandoned  their  position  when  they  found  their 
rear  threatened  by  a  landing  party.  Then,  after  a  faint 
resistance,  the  Chinese  sought  safety  in  flight,  but  some  of 
their  officers,  preferring  death  to  dishonor,  committed  sui- 
cide, one  of  them  being  seen  to  walk  calmly  into  the  sea 
and  drown  himself  in  face  of  both  armies.  The  capture  of 
Amoy  followed. 

As  the  authorities  at  Amoy  refused  to  hold  any  inter- 
course with  the  English,  the  achievement  remained  barren 
of  any  useful  consequence,  and  after  leaving  a  small  garri- 
son on  Kulangsu,  and  three  warships  in  the  roadstead,  the 
English  expedition  continued  its  northern  course.  After  be- 
ing scattered  by  a  storm  in  the  perilous  Formosa  channel, 


THE   FIRST   FOREIGN    WAR.  297 

the  fleet  reunited  off  Ningpo,  whence  itr  proceeded  to  attack 
Chusan  for  a  second  time.  The  Chinese  defended  Tinghai, 
the  capital,  with  great  resolution.  At  this  place  General 
Keo,  the  chief  naval  and  military  commander,  was  killed, 
and  all  his  officers,  sticking  to  him  to  the  last,  also  fell  with 
him.  Their  conduct  in  fact  was  noble;  nothing  could  have 
surpassed  it.  On  the  reoccupation  of  Chusan,  which  it  was 
decided  to  retain  until  a  formal  treaty  had  been  concluded 
with  the  emperor,  Sir  Henry  Pottinger  issued  a  proclama- 
tion to  the  effect  that  years  might  elapse  before  that  place 
would  be  restored  to  the  emperor's  authority,  and  many 
persons  wished  that  it  should  be  permanently  annexed  as 
the  best  base  for  commercial  operations  in  China.  A  gar- 
rison of  400  men  was  left  at  Tinghai,  and  then  the  expedi- 
tion proceeded  to  attack  Chinhai  on  the  mainland,  where 
the  Chinese  had  made  every  preparation  to  offer  a  strenuous 
resistance.  The  Chinese  suffered  the  most  signal  defeat  and 
the  greatest  loss  they  had  yet  incurred  during  the  war.  The 
victory  at  Chinhai  was  followed  by  the  unopposed  occupa- 
tion of  the  important  city  of  Ningpo,  where  the  inhabitants 
shut  themselves  up  in  their  houses,  and  wrote  on  their  doors 
"Submissive  People."  Ningpo  was  put  to  ransom  and  the 
authorities  informed  that  unless  they  paid  the  sum  within 
a  certain  time  their  city  would  be  handed  over  to  pillage 
and  destruction.  As  the  Pekin  government  had  made  no 
sign  of  giving  in,  it  was  felt  that  no  occasion  ought  to  be 
lost  of  overawing  the  Chinese,  and  compelling  them  to  ad- 
mit that  any  further  prolongation  of  the  struggle  would  be 
hopeless.  The  arrival  of  further  troops  and  warships  from 
Europe  enabled  the  English  commanders  to  adopt  a  more 
determined  and  uncompromising  attitude,  and  the  capture 
of  Ningpo  would  have  been  followed  up  at  once  but  for  the 
disastrous  events  in  Afghanistan,  which  distracted  attention 
from  the  Chinese  question,  and  delayed  its  settlement.  It 
was  hoped,  however,  that  the  continued  occupation  of  Amoy, 
Chusan  and  Ningpo  would  cause  sufficient  pressure  on  the 
Pekin  government  to  induce  it  to  yield  all  that  was  demanded. 


898  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

These  anticipations  were  not  fulfilled,  for  neither  the  swift- 
recurring  visitation  of  disaster  nor  the  waning  resources  of 
the  imperial  government  in  both  men  and  treasure,  could 
shake  the  fixed  hostility  of  Taoukwang  or  induce  him  to 
abate  his  proud  pretensions.  Minister  after  minister  passed 
into  disgrace  and  exile.  Misfortune  shared  the  same  fate 
as  incompetence,  and  the  more  the  embarrassments  of  the 
state  increased  the  heavier  fell  the  hand  of  the  ruler  and  the 
verdict  of  the  Board  of  Punishments  upon  beaten  generals 
and  unsuccessful  statesmen.  The  period  of  inaction  which 
followed  the  occupation  of  Ningpo  no  doubt  encouraged  the 
emperor  to  think  that  the  foreigners  were  exhausted,  or  that 
they  had  reached  the  end  of  their  successes,  and  he  ordered 
increased  efforts  to  be  made  to  bring  up  troops,  and  to 
strengthen  the  approaches  to  Pekin.  The  first  proof  of 
his  returning  spirit  was  shown  in  March,  1842,  when  the 
Chinese  attempted  to  seize  Ningpo  by  a  coup  de  main.  Sud- 
denly, and  without  warning,  a  force  of  between  ten  and 
twelve  thousand  men  appeared  at  daybreak  outside  the  south 
and  west  gates  of  Ningpo,  and  many  of  them  succeeded  in 
making  their  way  over  the  walls  and  gaining  the  center  of 
the  town ;  but,  instead  of  proving  the  path  to  victory,  this 
advance  resulted  in  the  complete  overthrow  of  the  Chinese. 
Attacked  by  artillery  and  foot  in  the  market-place  they  were 
almost  annihilated,  and  the  great  Chinese  attack  on  Ningpo 
resulted  in  a  fiasco.  Similar  but  less  vigorous  attacks  were 
made  about  the  same  time  on  Chinhai  and  Chusan,  but  they 
were  both  repulsed  with  heavy  loss  to  the  Chinese.  In  con- 
sequence of  these  attacks  and  the  improved  position  in  Af- 
ghanistan it  was  decided  to  again  assume  the  offensive,  and 
to  break  up  the  hostile  army  at  Hangchow,  of  which  the 
body  that  attacked  Ningpo  was  the  advanced  guard.  Sir 
Hugh  Gough  commanded  the  operations  in  person,  and  he 
had  the  co-operation  of  a  naval  force  under  Sir  William 
Parker.  The  first  action  took  place  outside  Tszeki,  a  small 
place  ten  miles  from  Ningpo,  where  the  Chinese  fancied 
they  occupied  an  exceedingly  strong  position.     But  careful 


THE   FIRST   FOREIGN    WAR.  299 

inspection  showed  it  to  be  radically  faulty.  Their  lines  cov- 
ered part  of  the  Segaou  hills,  but  their  left  was  commanded 
by  some  higher  hills  on  the  right  of  the  English  position, 
and  the  Chinese  left  again  commanded  their  own  right.  It 
was  evident,  therefore,  that  the  capture  of  the  left  wing  of 
the  Chinese  encampment  would  entail  the  surrender  or 
evacuation  of  the  rest.  The  difficulties  of  the  ground  caused 
a  greater  delay  in  the  advance  than  had  been  expected,  and 
the  assault  had  to  be  delivered  along  the  whole  line,  as  it 
was  becoming  obvious  that  the  Chinese  were  growing  more 
confident,  and,  consequently,  more  to  be  feared  from  the 
delay  in  attacking  them.  The  assault  was  made  with  the 
impetuosity  good  troops  always  show  in  attacking  inferior 
ones,  no  matter  how  great  the  disparity  of  numbers;  and 
here  the  Chinese  were  driven  out  of  their  position — although 
they  stood  their  ground  in  a  creditable  manner — and  chased 
over  the  hills  down  to  the  rice  fields  below.  The  Chinese 
loss  was  over  a  thousand  killed,  including  many  of  the  Im- 
perial Guard,  of  whom  500  were  present,  and  whom  Sir 
Hugh  Gough  described  as  "remarkably  fine  men,"  while 
the  English  had  six  killed  and  thirty -seven  wounded.  For 
the  moment  it  was  intended  to  follow  up  this  victory  by  an 
attack  on  the  city  of  Hangchow,  the  famous  Kincsay  of 
medieval  travelers;  but  the  arrival  of  fresh  instructions 
gave  a  complete  turn  to  the  whole  war. 

Little  permanent  good  had  been  effected  by  these  suc- 
cessful operations  on  the  coast,  and  Taoukwang  was  still  as 
resolute  as  ever  in  his  hostility ;  nor  is  there  any  reason  to 
suppose  that  the  capture  of  Hangchow,  or  any  other  of  the 
coast  towns,  would  have  caused  a  material  change  in  the 
situation.  The  credit  of  initiating  the  policy  which  brought 
the  Chinese  government  to  its  knees  belongs  exclusively  to 
Lord  Ellenborough,  then  governor-general  of  India.  He 
detected  the  futility  of  operations  along  the  coast,  and  he 
suggested  that  the  great  waterway  of  the  Yangtsekiang, 
perfectly  navigable  for  warships  up  to  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  Nankin,  provided  the  means  of  coercing  the  Chi- 


300  .4    SHORT  HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

nese,  and  effecting  the  objects  which  the  English  Gov- 
ernment had  in  view.  The  English  expedition,  strongly 
re-enforced  from  India,  then  abandoned  Ningpo  and  Chin- 
hai,  and,  proceeding  north,  began  the  final  operations  of  the 
war  with  an  attack  on  Chapoo,  where  the  Chinese  had  made 
extensive  measures  of  defense.  Chapoo  was  the  port  ap- 
pointed for  trade  with  Japan,  and  the  Chinese  had  collected 
there  a  very  considerable  force  from  the  levies  of  Chekiang, 
which  ex-Commissioner  Lin  had  been  largely  instrumental 
in  raising.  Sir  Hugh  Gough  attacked  Ohapoo  with  2,000 
men,  and  the  main  body  of  the  Chinese  was  routed  without 
much  difficulty,  but  300  desperate  men  shut  themselves  up 
in  a  walled  inclosure,  and  made  an  obstinate  resistance. 
They  held  out  until  three-fourths  of  them  were  slain,  when 
the  survivors,  seventy-five  wounded  men,  accepted  the  quar- 
ter offered  them  from  the  first.  The  English  lost  ten  killed 
and  fifty-five  wounded,  and  the  Chinese  more  than  a  thou- 
sand. After  this  the  expedition  proceeded  northward  for 
the  Great  River,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  attack  Woo- 
sung,  the  port  of  Shanghai,  en  route.  This  place  was  also 
strongly  fortified  with  as  many  as  175  guns  in  position,  but 
the  chief  difficulty  in  attacking  it  lay  in  that  of  approach, 
as  the  channel  had  first  to  be  sounded,  and  then  the  sailing 
ships  towed  into  position  by  the  steamers.  Twelve  vessels 
were  in  this  manner  placed  broadside  to  the  batteries  on 
land,  a  position  which  obviously  they  could  not  have  main- 
tained against  a  force  of  anything  like  equal  strength;  but 
they  succeeded  in  silencing  the  Chinese  batteries  with  com- 
paratively little  loss,  and  then  the  English  army  was  landed 
without  opposition.  Shanghai  is  situated  sixteen  miles  up 
the  Woosung  River,  and  while  part  of  the  force  proceeded  up 
the  river  another  marched  overland.  Both  columns  arrived 
together,  and  the  disheartened  Chinese  evacuated  Shanghai 
after  firing  one  or  two  random  shots.  No  attempt  was 
made  to  retain  Shanghai,  and  the  expedition  re-embarked, 
and  proceeded  to  attack  Chankiang  or  Chinkiangfoo,  a  town 
on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Yangtsekiang,  and  at  the  north- 


THE   FIRST   FOREIGN   WAR.  301 

era  entrance  of  the  southern  branch  of  the  Great  Canal. 
This  town  has  always  been  a  place  of  great  celebrity,  both 
strategically  and  commercially,  for  not  merely  does  it  hold 
a  very  strong  position  with  regard  to  the  Canal,  but  it  forms, 
with  the  Golden  and  Silver  Islands,  the  principal  barrier  in 
the  path  of  those  attempting  to  reach  Nankin.  At  this 
point  Sir  Hugh  Gough  was  re-enforced  by  the  98th  Regi- 
ment, under  Colonel  Colin  Campbell.  The  difficulties  of 
navigation  and  the  size  of  the  fleet,  which  now  reached 
seventy  vessels,  caused  a  delay  in  the  operations,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  latter  end  of  July,  or  more  than  a  month 
after  the  occupation  of  Shanghai,  that  the  English  reached 
Chinkiangfoo,  where,  strangely  enough,  there  seemed  to  be 
no  military  preparations  whatever.  A  careful  reconnais- 
sance revealed  the  presence  of  three  strong  encampments  at 
some  distance  from  the  town,  and  the  first  operation  was  to 
carry  them,  and  to  prevent  their  garrisons  joining  such 
forces  as  might  still  remain  in  the  city.  This  attack  was 
intrusted  to  Lord  Saltoun's  brigade,  which  was  composed  of 
two  Scotch  regiments  and  portions  of  two  native  regiments, 
with  only  three  guns.  The  opposition  was  almost  insignifi- 
cant, and  the  three  camps  were  carried  with  comparatively 
little  loss  and  their  garrisons  scattered  in  all  directions.  At 
the  same  time  the  remainder  of  the  force  assaulted  the  city, 
which  was  surrounded  by  a  high  wall  and  a  deep  moat. 
Some  delay  was  caused  by  these  obstacles,  but  at  last  the 
western  gate  was  blown  in  by  Captain  Pears,  of  the  Engi- 
neers, and  at  the  same  moment  the  walls  were  escaladed  at 
two  different  points,  and  the  English  troops,  streaming  in  on 
three  sides,  fairly  surrounded  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
garrison,  who  retired  into  a  detached  work,  where  they  per- 
ished to  the  last  man  either  by  our  fire  or  in  the  flames  of 
the  houses  which  were  ignited  partly  by  themselves  and 
partly  by  the  fire  of  our  soldiers.  The  resistance  did  not 
stop  here,  for  the  Tartar  or  inner  city  was  resolutely  de- 
fended by  the  Manchus,  and  owing  to  the  intense  heat  the 
Europeans  would  have  been  glad  of  a  rest ;  but,  as  the  Man- 


302  .4    SHOR7    HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

chus  kept  up  a  galling  fire,  Sir  Hugh  Gough  felt  bound  to 
order  an  immediate  assault  before  the  enemy  grew  too  dar- 
ing. The  fight  was  renewed,  and  the  Tartars  were  driven 
back  at  all  points ;  but  the  English  troops  were  so  exhausted 
that  they  could  not  press  home  this  advantage.  The  inter- 
val thus  gained  was  employed  by  the  Manchus,  not  in  mak- 
ing good  their  escape,  but  in  securing  their  military  honor 
by  first  massacring  their  women  and  children,  and  then 
committing  suicide.  It  must  be  remembered  that  these  were 
not  Chinese,  but  Manchu  Tartars  of  the  dominant  race. 

The  losses  of  the  English  army  at  this  battle — 40  killed, 
and  130  wounded — were  heavy,  and  they  were  increased  by 
several  deaths  caused  by  the  heat  and  exhaustion  of  the  day. 
The  Chinese,  or  rather  the  Tartars,  never  fought  better,  and 
it  appears  from  a  document  discovered  afterward  that  if 
Hailing's  recommendations  had  been  followed,  and  if  he  had 
been  properly  supported,  the  capture  of  Chinkiangfoo  would 
have  been  even  more  difficult  and  costly  than  it  proved. 

Some  delay  at  Chinkiangfoo  was  rendered  necessary  by 
the  exhaustion  of  the  troops  and  by  the  number  of  sick  and 
wounded;  but  a  week  after  the  capture  of  that  place  in  the 
manner  described  the  arrangements  for  the  further  advance 
on  Nankin  were  completed.  A  small  garrison  was  left  in  an 
encampment  on  a  height  commanding  the  entrance  to  the 
Canal;  but  there  was  little  reason  to  apprehend  any  fresh 
attack,  as  the  lesson  of  Chinkiangfoo  had  been  a  terrible 
one.  That  city  lay  beneath  the  English  camp  like  a  vast 
charnel  house,  its  half-burned  buildings  filled  with  the  self- 
immolated  Tartars  who  had  preferred  honor  to  life ;  and  so 
thickly  strewn  were  these  and  so  intense  the  heat  that  the 
days  passed  away  without  the  ability  to  give  them  burial, 
until  at  last  it  became  absolutely  impossible  to  render  the 
last  kind  office  to  a  gallant  foe.  Despite  the  greatest  pre- 
cautions of  the  English  authorities,  Chinkiangfoo  became 
the  source  of  pestilence,  and  an  outbreak  of  cholera  caused 
more  serious  loss  in  the  English  camp  than  befell  the  main 
force  intrusted  with  the  capture  of  Nankin.     Contrary  winds 


THE    FIRST   FOREIGN    WAR.  303 

delayed  the  progress  of  the  English  fleet,  and  it  was  not  un- 
til the  fifth  of  August,  more  than  a  fortnight  after  the  battle 
at  Chinkiangfoo,  that  it  appeared  off  Nankin,  the  second 
city  in  reputation  and  historical  importance  of  the  empire, 
with  one  million  inhabitants  and  a  garrison  of  15,000  men, 
of  whom  two-thirds  were  Manchus.  The  walls  were  twenty 
miles  in  length,  and  hindered,  more  than  they  promoted, 
an  efficient  defense ;  and  the  difficulties  of  the  surrounding 
country,  covered  with  the  debris  of  the  buildings  which  con- 
stituted the  larger  cities  of  Nankin  at  an  earlier  period  of 
history,  helped  the  assailing  party  more  than  they  did  the 
defenders.  Sir  Hugh  Qough  drew  up  an  admirable  plan  for 
capturing  this  vast  and  not  defenseless  city  with  his  force  of 
5,000  men,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  he  would 
have  been  completely  successful ;  but  by  this  the  backbone 
of  the  Chinese  government  had  been  broken,  and  even  the 
proud  and  obstinate  Taoukwang  was  compelled  to  admit  that 
it  was  imperative  to  come  to  terms  with  the  English,  and  to 
make  some  concessions  in  order  to  get  rid  of  them. 

The  minister  Elepoo,  who  once  enjoyed  the  closest  inti- 
macy with  Taoukwang,  and  who  was  the  leader  of  the 
Peace  party,  which  desired  the  cessation  of  an  unequal 
struggle,  had  begun  informal  negotiations  several  months 
before  they  proved  successful  at  Nankin.  He  omitted  no 
opportunity  of  learning  the  views  of  the  English  officers,  and 
what  was  the  minimum  of  concession  on  which  a  stable 
peace  could  be  based.  He  had  endeavored  also  to  give 
something  of  a  generous  character  to  the  struggle,  and  he 
had  more  than  once  proved  himself  a  courteous  as  well  as 
a  gallant  foe.  After  the  capture  of  Chapoo  and  Woosung 
he  sent  back  several  officers  and  men  who  had  at  different 
times  been  taken  prisoners  by  the  Chinese,  and  he  expressed 
at  the  same  time  the  desire  that  the  war  should  end.  Sir 
Henry  Pottinger's  reply  to  this  letter  was  to  inquire  if  he 
was  empowered  by  the  emperor  to  negotiate.  If  he  had 
received  this  authority  the  English  plenipotentiary  would 
be  very  happy  to  discuss  any  matter  with  him,  but  if  not 


304  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

the  operations  of  war  must  proceed.  At  that  moment  Ele- 
poo  had  not  the  requisite  authority  to  negotiate,  and  the  war 
went  on  until  the  victorious  English  troops  were  beneath  the 
walls  of  Nankin.  At  the  same  time  as  these  pourparlers 
were  held  with  Elepoo  at  Woosung,  Sir  Henry  Pottinger 
issued  a  proclamation  to  the  Chinese  stating  what  the  Brit- 
ish Government  required  to  be  done.  In  this  document  the 
equality  of  all  nations  as  members  of  the  same  human  fam- 
ily was  pointed  out,  and  the  right  to  hold  friendly  inter- 
course insisted  on  as  a  matter  of  duty  and  common  obliga- 
tion. Sir  Henry  said  that  "England,  coming  from  the 
utmost  west,  has  held  intercourse  with  China  in  this  utmost 
east  for  more  than  two  centuries  past,  and  during  this  time 
the  English  have  suffered  ill-treatment  from  the  Chinese 
officials,  who,  regarding  themselves  as  powerful  and  us  as 
weak,  have  thus  dared  to  commit  injustice."  Then  followed 
a  list  of  the  many  high-handed  acts  of  Commissioner  Lin 
and  his  successors.  The  Chinese,  plainly  speaking,  had 
sought  to  maintain  their  exclusiveness  and  to  live  outside 
the  comity  of  nations,  and  they  had  not  the  power  to  attain 
their  wish.  Therefore  they  were  compelled  to  listen  to  and 
to  accept  the  terms  of  the  English  plenipotentiary,  which 
were  as  follows : — The  emperor  was  first  of  all  to  appoint  a 
high  officer  with  full  powers  to  negotiate  and  conclude  ar- 
rangements on  his  own  responsibility,  when  hostilities  would 
be  suspended.  The  three  principal  points  on  which  these 
negotiations  were  to  be  based  were  compensation  for  losses 
and  expenses,  a  friendly  and  becoming  intercourse  on  terms 
of  equality  between  officers  of  the  two  countries,  and  the 
cession  of  insular  territorjT  for  commerce  and  for  the  resi- 
dence of  merchants,  and  as  a  security  and  guarantee  against 
the  future  renewal  of  offensive  acts.  The  first  step  toward 
the  acceptance  of  these  terms  was  taken  when  an  imperial 
commission  was  formed  of  three  members,  Keying,  Elepoo, 
and  Niu  Kien,  viceroy  of  the  Two  Kiang;  and  to  the  last 
named,  as  governor  of  the  provinces  most  affected,  fell  the 
task  of  writing  the  first  diplomatic  communication  of  a  satis- 


THE   FIRST  FOREIGN    WAR.  305 

factory  character  from  the  Chinese  government  to  the  En- 
glish plenipotentiary.  This  letter  was  important  for  more 
reasons  than  its  being  of  a  conciliatory  nature.  It  held  out 
to  a  certain  extent  a  hand  of  friendship,  and  it  also  sought 
to  assign  an  origin  to  the  conflict,  and  Niu  Kien  could  find 
nothing  more  handy  or  convenient  than  opium,  which  thus 
came  to  give  its  name  to  the  whole  war.  With  regard  to 
the  Chinese  reverses,  Niu  Kien,  while  admitting  them,  ex- 
plained that  "as  the  central  nation  had  enjoyed  peace  for  a 
long  time  the  Chinese  were  not  prepared  for  attacking  and 
fighting,  which  had  led  to  this  accumulation  of  insult  and 
disgrace."  In  a  later  communication  Niu  Kien  admitted 
that  "the  English  at  Canton  had  been  exposed  to  insults 
and  extortions  for  a  series  of  years,  and  that  steps  should  be 
taken  to  insure  in  future  that  the  people  of  your  honorable 
nation  might  carry  on  their  commerce  to  advantage,  and  not 
receive  injury  thereby."  These  documents  showed  that  the 
Chinese  were  at  last  willing  to  abandon  the  old  and  impos- 
sible principle  of  superiority  over  other  nations,  for  which 
they  had  so  long  contended;'  and  with  the  withdrawal  of 
this  pretension  negotiations  for  the  conclusion  of  a  stable 
peace  became  at  once  possible  and  of  hopeful  augury. 

The  first  step  of  the  Chinese  commissioners  was  to  draw 
up  a  memorial  for  presentation  to  the  emperor,  asking  his 
sanction  of  the  arrangement  they  suggested.  In  this  docu- 
ment they  covered  the  whole  ground  of  the  dispute,  and 
stated  in  clear  and  unmistakable  language  what  the  English 
demanded,  and  they  did  not  shrink  from  recommending 
compliance  with  their  terms.  Keying  and  his  colleagues 
put  the  only  two  alternatives  with  great  cogency.  Which 
will  be  the  heavier  calamity,  they  said,  to  pay  the  English 
the  sum  of  money  they  demand  (21,000,000  dollars,  made 
up  as  follows :  Six  million  for  the  destroyed  opium,  3,000,000 
for  the  debts  of  the  Hong  merchants,  and  12,000,000  for  the 
expenses  of  the  war),  or  that  they  should  continue  those 
military  operations  which  seemed  irresistible,  and  from 
which  China  had  suffered  so  grievously?     Even  if  the  lat- 


306  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

ter  alternative  were  faced  and  the  war  continued,  the  evil 
day  would  only  be  put  off.  The  army  expenses  would  be 
very  great,  the  indemnity  would  be  increased  in  amount, 
and  after  all  there  would  be  only  "the  name  of  fighting 
without  the  hope  of  victory."  Similar  arguments  were  used 
with  regard  to  the  cession  of  Hongkong,  and  the  right  of 
trading  at  five  of  the  principal  ports.  The  English  no  doubt 
demanded  more  than  they  ought,  but  what  was  the  use  of 
arguing  with  them,  as  they  were  masters  of  the  situation? 
Moreover,  some  solace  might  be  gathered  in  the  midst  of 
affliction  from  the  fact  that  the  English  were  willing  to  pay 
certain  duties  on  their  commerce  which  would  in  the  end 
repay  the  war  indemnity,  and  contribute  to  "the  expenditure 
of  the  imperial  family."  With  regard  to  the  question  of 
ceremonial  intercourse  on  a  footing  of  equality,  they  de- 
clared that  it  might  be  "unreservedly  granted."  The  reply 
of  Taoukwang  to  this  memorial  was  given  in  an  edict  of 
considerable  length,  and  he  therein  assented  to  all  the  views 
and  suggestions  of  the  commissioners,  while  he  imposed  on 
Keying  alone  the  responsibility  of  making  all  the  arrange- 
ments for  paying  the  large  indemnity.  All  the  preliminaries 
for  signing  a  treaty  of  peace  had  therefore  been  arranged 
before  the  English  forces  reached  Nankin,  and  as  the  Chi- 
nese commissioners  were  sincere  in  their  desire  for  peace, 
and  as  the  emperor  had  sanctioned  all  the  necessary  ar- 
rangements, there  was  no  reason  to  apprehend  any  delay, 
and  much  less  a  breakdown  of  the  negotiations. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  treaty  should  be  signed  on 
board  a  British  man-of-war,  and  the  Chinese  commissioners 
were  invited  to  pay  a  visit  for  the  purpose  to  the  "Corn- 
wallis,"  the  flagship  of  the  admiral.  The  event  came  off 
on  the  20  th  of  August,  1842,  and  the  scene  was  sufficiently 
interesting,  if  not  imposing.  The  long  line  of  English  war- 
ships and  transports,  drawn  up  opposite  to  and  within  short 
range  of  the  lofty  walls  of  Nankin ;  the  land  forces  so  dis- 
posed on  the  raised  causeways  on  shore  as  to  give  them 
every  facility  of  approach  to  the  city  gates,  while  leaving 


THE   FIRST   FOREIGN    WAR  Wt 

it  doubtful  to  the  last  which  gate  would  be  the  real  object 
of  attack ;  and  then  the  six  small  Chinese  boats,  gayly  dec- 
orated with  flags,  bearing  the  imperial  commissioners  and 
their  attendants,  to  sign  for  the  first  time  in  history  a  treaty 
of  defeat  with  a  foreign  power.  The  commissioners  were 
dressed  in  their  plainest  clothes,  as  they  explained,  because 
imperial  commissioners  are  supposed  to  proceed  in  haste 
about  their  business,  and  have  no  time  to  waste  on  their 
persons,  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  thought 
such  clothing  best  consorted  with  the  inauspicious  charac- 
ter for  China  of  the  occasion.  The  ceremony  passed  off 
without  a  hitch,  and  four  days  later  Sir  Henry  Pottinger 
paid  the  Chinese  officers  a  return  visit,  when  he  was  re- 
ceived by  them  in  a  temple  outside  the  city  walls.  A  third 
and  more  formal  reception  was  held  on  the  26th  of  August 
in  the  College  Hall,  in  the  center  of  Nankin,  when  Sir 
Henry  Pottinger,  twenty  officers,  and  an  escort  of  native 
cavalry  rode  through  the  streets  of  one  of  the  most  famous 
cities  of  China.  It  was  noted  at  the  time  that  on  this  date 
an  event  of  great  importance  had  happened  in  each  of  the 
three  previous  years.  On  the  26th  of  August,  1839,  Lin 
had  expelled  the  English  from  Macao,  in  1840  the  British 
fleet  anchored  off  the  Peiho,  and  in  1841  Amoy  was  cap- 
tured. Three  days  after  this  reception  the  treaty  itself  was 
signed  on  board  the  "Cornwallis,"  when  Keying  and  his 
colleagues  again  attended  for  the  purpose.  The  act  of  sign- 
ing was  celebrated  by  a  royal  salute  of  twenty- one  guns, 
and  the  hoisting  of  the  standards  of  England  and  China  at 
the  masthead  of  the  man-of-war.  The  Emperor  Taouk- 
wang  ratified  the  treaty  with  commendable  dispatch,  and 
the  only  incident  to  mar  the  cordiality  of  the  last  scene  in 
this  part  of  the  story  of  Anglo-Chinese  relations  was  the 
barbarous  and  inexcusable  injury  inflicted  by  a  party  of 
English  officers  and  soldiers  on  the  famous  Porcelain  Tower, 
which  was  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  Chinese  art,  hav- 
ing been  built  400  years  before  at  great  expense  and  the 
labor  of  twenty  years. 


308  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

The  ports  in  addition  to  Canton  to  be  opened  to  trade 
were  Shanghai,  Ningpo,  Amoy  and  Foochow,  but  these 
were  not  to  be  opened  until  a  tariff  had  been  drawn  up 
and  consular  officers  appointed.  As  the  installments  of 
the  indemnity  were  paid  the  troops  and  fleet  were  with- 
drawn, but  a  garrison  was  left  for  some  time  in  Chusan 
and  Kulangsu,  the  island  off  Amoy.  The  attack  and  mas- 
sacre of  some  shipwrecked  crews  on  the  coast  of  Formosa 
gave  the  Chinese  government  an  occasion  of  showing  how 
marked  a  change  had  come  over  its  policy.  An  investiga- 
tion was  at  once  ordered,  the  guilty  officials  were  punished, 
and  the  emperor  declared,  "We  will  not  allow  that,  because 
the  representation  came  from  outside  foreigners,  it  should 
be  carelessly  cast  aside  without  investigation.  Our  own 
subjects  and  foreigners,  ministers  and  people,  should  all 
<dike  understand  that  it  is  our  high  desire  to  act  with  even- 
handed  and  perfect  justice."  Sir  Henry  Pottinger's  task 
was  only  half  performed  until  he  had  drawn  up  the  tariff 
and  installed  consular  officers  in  the  new  treaty  ports. 
Elepoo  was  appointed  to  represent  China  in  the  tariff  nego- 
tiations, and  Canton  was  selected  as  the  most  convenient 
place  for  discussing  the  matter.  Within  two  months  of  the 
resumption  of  negotiations  they  seemed  on  the  point  of  a 
satisfactory  termination,  when  the  death  of  Elepoo,  the 
most  sincere  and  straightforward  of  all  the  Chinese  offi- 
cials, caused  a  delay  in  the  matter.  Elepoo  was  a  member 
of  the  Manchu  imperial  family,  being  descended  from  one 
of  the  brothers  of  Yung  Ching,  who  had  been  banished  by 
that  ruler  and  reinstated  by  Keen  Lung.  That  the  Pekin 
government  did  not  wish  to  make  his  death  an  excuse  for 
backing  out  of  the  arrangement  was  shown  by  the  prompt 
appointment  of  Keying  as  his  successor.  At  this  stage  of 
the  question  the  opium  difficulty  again  rose  up  as  of  the  first 
importance  in  reference  to  the  settlement  of  the  commercial 
tariff.  The  main  point  was  whether  opium  was  to  appear 
in  the  tariff  at  all  or  to  be  relegated  to  the  category  of  con- 
traband articles.     Sir  Henry  Pottinger  disclaimed  all  symr 


THE   FIRST   FOREIGN    WAR.  309 

pathy  with  the  traffic,  and  was  quite  willing  that  it  should 
be  declared  illicit;  but  at  the  same  time  he  stated  that  the 
responsibility  of  putting  it  down  must  rest  with  the  Chinese 
themselves.  The  Chinese  were  not  willing  to  accept  this 
responsibility,  and  said  that  "if  the  supervision  of  the  En- 
glish representatives  was  not  perfect,  there  will  be  less  or 
more  of  smuggling."  Keying  paid  Sir  Henry  Pottinger  a 
ceremonious  visit  at  Hongkong  on  the  26th  of  June,  1843, 
and  within  one  month  of  that  day  the  commercial  treaty 
was  signed.  Sir  Henry  issued  a  public  proclamation  calling 
upon  British  subjects  to  faithfully  conform  with  its  provis- 
ions, and  stating  that  he  would  adopt  the  most  stringent 
and  decided  measures  against  any  offending  persons.  On 
his  side  Keying  published  a  notification  that  "trade  at  the 
five  treaty  ports  was  open  to  the  men  from  afar."  The 
only  weak  point  in  the  commercial  treaty  was  that  it  con- 
tained no  reference  to  opium.  Sir  Henry  Pottinger  failed 
to  obtain  the  assent  of  the  Chinese  government  to  its  legali- 
zation, and  he  refused  to  undertake  the  responsibility  of  a 
preventive  service  in  China,  but  at  the  same  time  he  pub- 
licly stated  that  the  "traffic  in  opium  was  illegal  and  con- 
traband by  the  laws  and  imperial  edicts  of  China."  Those 
who  looked  further  ahead  realized  that  the  treaty  of  Nankin, 
by  leaving  unsettled  the  main  point  in  the  controversy  and 
the  primary  cause  of  difference,  could  not  be  considered  a 
final  solution  of  the  problem  of  foreign  intercourse  with 
China.  The  opium  question  remained  over  to  again  dis- 
turb the  harmony  of  our  relations. 

As  has  been  said  before,  it  would  be  taking  a  narrow 
view  of  the  question  to  affirm  that  opium  was  the  principal 
object  at  stake  during  this  war.  The  real  point  was  whether 
the  Chinese  government  could  be  allowed  the  possession  of 
rights  which  were  unrecognized  in  the  law  of  nations  and 
which  rendered  the  continuance  of  intercourse  with  foreign- 
ers an  impossibility.  What  China  sought  to  retain  was  never 
claimed  by  any  other  nation,  and  could  only  have  been  estab- 
lished by  extraordinary  military  power.     When  people  talk, 


310  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

therefore,  of  the  injustice  of  this  war  as  another  instance  of 
the  triumph  of  might  over  right,  they  should  recollect  that 
China  in  the  first  place  was  wrong  in  claiming  an  impossible 
position  in  the  family  of  nations.  We  cannot  doubt  that  if 
the  acts  of  Commissioner  Lin  had  been  condoned  the  lives 
of  all  Europeans  would  have  been  at  the  mercy  of  a  system 
which  recognizes  no  gradation  in  crime,  which  affords  many 
facilities  for  the  manufacture  of  false  evidence,  and  which 
inflicts  punishment  altogether  in  excess  of  the  fault.  It  is 
gratifying  to  find  that  many  unprejudiced  persons  declared 
at  the  time  that  the  war  which  resulted  in  the  Nankin  treaty 
was  a  just  one,  and  so  eminent  an  authority  on  international 
law  as  John  Quincy  Adams  drew  up  an  elaborate  treatise  to 
show  that  "Britain  had  the  righteous  cause  against  China." 
We  may  leave  the  scene  of  contest  and  turn  from  the  record 
of  an  unequal  war  with  the  reflection  that  the  results  of  the 
struggle  were  to  be  good.  However  inadequately  the  work 
of  far-seeing  statesmanship  may  have  been  performed  in 
1842,  enough  was  done  to  make  present  friendship  possible 
and  a  better  understanding  between  two  great  governing 
peoples  a  matter  of  hope  and  not  desponding  expectancy. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

TAOUKWANG    AND    HIS    SUCCESSOR 

The  progress  and  temporary  settlement  of  the  foreign 
question  so  completely  overshadows  every  other  event  during 
Taoukwang's  reign  that  it  is  difficult  to  extract  anything  of 
interest  from  the  records  of  the  government  of  the  country, 
although  the  difficult  and  multifarious  task  of  ruling  three 
hundred  millions  of  people  had  to  be  performed.  More  than 
one  fact  went  to  show  that  the  bonds  of  constituted  authority 
were  loosened  in  China,  and  that  men  paid  only  a  qualified 
respect  to  the  imperial  edict.  Bands  of  robbers  prowled 
about  the  eountry,  and  even  the  capital  was  not  free  from 


TAOVKWANG    AND    HIS    SUCCESSOR.  311 

their  presence.  While  one  band  made  its  headquarters 
within  the  imperial  city,  another  established  itself  in  a 
fortified  position  in  the  central  provinces  of  China,  whence 
it  dominated  a  vast  region.  The  police  were  helpless,  and 
such  military  forces  as  existed  were  unable  to  make  any 
serious  attempt  to  crush  an  opponent  who  was  stronger  than 
themselves.  The  foreign  war  had  led  to  the  recruiting  of  a 
large  number  of  braves,  and  the  peace  to  their  sudden  dis- 
bandment,  so  that  the  country  was  covered  with  a  large 
number  of  desperate  and  penniless  men,  who  were  not 
particular  as  to  what  they  did  for  a  livelihood.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  the  secret  societies  began  to  look  up  again 
with  so  promising  a  field  to  work  in,  and  a  new  association, 
known  as  the  Green  Water  Lily,  became  extremely  formidable 
among  the  truculent  braves  of  Hoonan.  But  none  of  these 
troubles  assumed  the  extreme  form  of  danger  in  open  rebel- 
lion, and  there  was  still  wanting  the  man  to  weld  all  these 
hostile  and  dangerous  elements  into  a  national  party  of  in- 
surgents against  Manchu  authority,  and  so  it  remained  until 
Taoukwang  had  given  up  his  throne  to  his  successor. 

In  Yunnan  there  occurred,  about  the  year  1846,  the  first 
simmerings  of  disaffection  among  the  Mohammedans,  which 
many  years  later  developed  into  the  Panthay  Rebellion,  but 
on  that  occasion  the  vigor  of  the  viceroy  nipped  the  danger 
in  the  bud.  In  Central  Asia  there  was  a  revival  of  activity 
on  the  part  of  the  Khoja  exiles,  who  fancied  that  the  dis- 
comfiture of  the  Chinese  by  the  English  and  the  internal 
disorders,  of  which  rumor  had  no  doubt  carried  an  exag- 
gerated account  into  Turkestan,  would  entail  a  very  much 
diminished  authority  in  Kashgar.  As  it  happened,  the  Chi- 
nese authority  in  that  region  had  been  consolidated  and  ex- 
tended by  the  energy  and  ability  of  a  Mohammedan  official 
named  Zuhuruddin.  He  had  risen  to  power  by  the  thorough- 
ness with  which  he  had  carried  out  the  severe  repressive 
measures  sanctioned  after  the  abortive  invasion  of  Jehan- 
gir,  and  during  fifteen  years  he  increased  the  revenue  and 
trade  of  the  great  province  intrusted  to  his  care.     His  loy- 


312  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

alty  to  the  Chinese  government  seems  to  have  been  unim- 
peachable, and  the  only  point  he  seems  to  have  erred  in  was 
an  overconfident  belief  in  the  strength  of  his  position.  He 
based  this  opinion  chiefly  on  the  fact  of  his  having  con- 
structed strong  new  forts,  or  yangyshahr,  outside  the  prin- 
cipal towns.  But  a  new  element  of  danger  had  in  the  mean- 
time been  introduced  into  the  situation  in  Kashgar  by  the 
appointment  of  Khokandian  consuls,  who  were  empowered 
to  raise  custom  dues  on  all  Mohammedan  goods.  These  of- 
ficials became  the  center  of  intrigue  against  the  Chinese 
authorities,  and  whenever  the  Khan  of  Khokand  determined 
to  take  up  the  cause  of  the  Khojas  he  found  the  ground 
prepared  for  him  by  these  emissaries. 

In  1842  Mahomed  Ali,  Khan  of  Khokand,  a  chief  of  con- 
siderable ability  and  character,  died,  and  his  authority 
passed,  after  some  confusion,  to  his  kinsman,  Khudayar, 
who  was  a  man  of  little  capacity  and  indisposed  to  meddle 
with  the  affairs  of  his  neighbors.  But  the  Khokandian 
chiefs  were  loth  to  forego  the  turbulent  adventures  to  which 
they  were  addicted  for  the  personal  feelings  of  their  nominal 
head,  and  they  thought  that  a  descent  upon  Kashgar  of- 
fered the  best  chance  of  glory  and  booty.  Therefore  they 
went  to  the  seven  sons  of  Jehangir  and,  inciting  them  by 
the  memory  of  their  father's  death  as  well  as  the  hope  of  a 
profitable  adventure,  to  make  another  attempt  to  drive  the 
Chinese  out  of  Central  Asia,  succeeded  in  inducing  them  to 
unfurl  once  more  the  standard  of  the  Khojas.  The  seven 
Khojas — Haft  Khojagan — itsued  their  proclamation  in  the 
winter  of  1845-46,  rallied  all  their  adherents  to  their  side, 
and  made  allies  of  the  Kirghiz  tribes. 

When  the  Mohammedan  forces  left  the  hills  they  ad- 
vanced with  extreme  rapidity  on  Kashgar,  to  which  they 
laid  siege.  After  a  siege  of  a  fortnight  they  obtained  pos- 
session of  the  town  through  the  treachery  of  some  of  the 
inhabitants ;  but  the  citadel  or  yangyshahr  continued  to  hold 
out,  and  their  excesses  in  the  town  so  alienated  the  sympathy 
of  the  Kashgarians,  that  no  popular  rising  took  place,  and 


TAOUKWANO   AND   HIS   SUCCESSOR.  313 

the  Chinese  were  able  to  collect  all  their  garrisons  to  expel 
the  invaders.  The  Khojas  were  defeated  in  a  battle  at  Kok 
Robat,  near  Yarkand,  and  driven  out  of  the  country.  The 
affair  of  the  seven  Khojas,  which  at  one  time  threatened  the 
Chinese  with  the  gravest  danger,  thus  ended  in  a  collapse, 
and  it  is  remarkable  as  being  the  only  invasion  in  which  the 
Mohammedan  subjects  of  China  did  not  fraternize  with  her 
enemies.  Notwithstanding  the  magnitude  of  his  services  as 
an  administrator,  Zuhuruddin  was  disgraced  and  dismissed 
from  his  post  for  what  seemed  his  culpable  apathy  at  the 
beginning  of  the  campaign. 

Another  indication  of  the  weakness  of  the  Chinese  execu- 
tive was  furnished  in  the  piratic  confederacy  which  estab- 
lished itself  at  the  entrance  of  the  Canton  River,  and  defied 
all  the  efforts  of  the  mandarins  until  they  enlisted  in  their 
behalf  the  powerful  co-operation  of  the  English  navy.  The 
Bogue  had  never  been  completely  free  from  those  lawless 
persons  who  are  willing  to  commit  any  outrage  if  it  holds 
out  a  certain  prospect  of  gain  with  a  minimum  amount  of 
danger,  and  the  peace  had  thrown  many  desperate  men  out 
of  employment  who  thought  they  could  find  in  piracy  a  mode 
of  showing  their  patriotism  as  well  as  of  profiting  them- 
selves. These  turbulent  and  dangerous  individuals  gathered 
round  a  leader  named  Shapuntsai,  and  in  the  year  of  which 
we  are  speaking,  1849,  they  controlled  a  large  fleet  and  a 
well-equipped  force,  which  levied  blackmail  from  Fochow 
to  the  Gulf  of  Tonquin,  and  attacked  every  trading  ship, 
European  or  Chinese,  which  did  not  appear  capable  of  defend- 
ing itself.  If  they  had  confined  their  attacks  to  their  own 
countrymen  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  long  they  might  have 
gone  on  in  impunity,  for  the  empire  possessed  no  naval 
power;  but,  unfortunately  for  them,  and  fortunately  for 
China,  they  seized  some  English  vessels  and  murdered  some 
English  subjects.  One  man-of-war  under  Captain  Hay  was 
employed  in  operations  against  them,  and  in  the  course  of 
six  months  fifty-seven  piratical  vessels  were  destroyed,  and 
a  thousand  of  their  crews  either  slain  or  taken  prisoners. 

*4 


814  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

Captain  Hay,  on  being  joined  by  another  man-of-war,  had 
the  satisfaction  of  destroying  the  remaining  junks  and  the 
depots  in  the  Canton  River,  whereupon  he  sailed  to  attack 
the  headquarters  of  Shapuntsai  in  the  Gulf  of  Tonquin. 
After  some  search  the  piratical  fleet  was  discovered  off  an 
island  which  still  bears  the  name  of  the  Pirates'  Hold,  and 
after  a  protracted  engagement  it  was  annihilated.  Sixty 
junks  were  destroyed,  and  Shapuntsai  was  compelled  to 
escape  to  Cochin  China,  where  it  is  believed  that  he  was 
executed  by  order  of  the  king.  The  dispersion  of  this  pow- 
erful confederacy  was  a  timely  service  to  the  Chinese,  who 
were  informed  that  the  English  government  would  be  at  all 
times  happy  to  afford  similar  aid  at  their  request.  Even  at 
this  comparatively  early  stage  of  the  intercourse  it  was  ap- 
parent that  the  long-despised  foreigners  would  be  able  to 
render  valuable  service  of  a  practical  kind  to  the  Pekin 
executive,  and  that  if  the  Manchus  wished  to  assert  their 
power  more  effectually  over  their  Chinese  subjects  they 
would  be  compelled  to  have  recourse  to  European  weapons 
and  military  and  scientific  knowledge.  The  suppression  of 
the  piratical  confederacy  of  the  Bogue  was  the  first  occasion 
of  that  employment  of  European  force,  which  was  carried 
to  a  much  more  advanced  stage  during  the  Taeping  re- 
bellion, and  of  which  we  have  certainly  not  seen  the  last 
development. 

One  of  the  last  acts  of  Taoukwang's  reign  showed  to 
what  a  depth  of  mental  hesitation  and  misery  he  had  sunk. 
It  seems  that  the  Chinese  New  Year's  day — February  12, 
1850 — was  to  be  marked  by  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  which  was 
considered  very  inauspicious,  and  as  the  emperor  was  espe- 
cially susceptible  to  superstitious  influences,  he  sought  to  get 
out  of  the  difficulty,  and  to  avert  any  evil  consequences,  by 
decreeing  that  the  new  year  should  begin  on  the  previous 
day.  But  all-powerful  as  a  Chinese  emperor  is,  there  are 
some  things  he  cannot  do,  and  the  good  sense  of  the  Chinese 
revolted  against  this  attempt  to  alter  the  course  of  nature. 
The  imperial  decree  was  completely  disregarded,   and  re- 


TAOUKWANG    AND   HIS   SUCCESSOR.  315 

ceived  with  expressions  of  derision,  and  in  several  towns 
the  placards  were  torn  down  and  defaced.  Notwithstanding 
the  eclipse,  the  Chinese  year  began  at  its  appointed  time. 
Some  excuse  might  be  made  for  Taoukwang  on  the  ground 
of  ill-health,  for  he  was  then  suffering  from  the  illness  which 
carried  him  off  a  few  weeks  later.  His  health  had  long  been 
precarious,  the  troubles  of  his  reign  had  prematurely  aged 
him,  and  he  had  experienced  a  rude  shock  from  the  death, 
at  the  end  of  1849,  of  his  adopted  mother,  toward  whom  he 
seems  to  have  preserved  the  most  affectionate  feelings. 
From  the  first  day  of  his  illness  its  gravity  seems  to  have 
been  appreciated,  and  an  unfavorable  issue  expected.  On 
February  25,  a  grand  council  was  held  in  the  emperor's 
bed-chamber,  and  the  emperor  wrote  in  his  bed  an  edict 
proclaiming  his  fourth  son  his  heir  and  chosen  successor. 
Taoukwang  survived  this  important  act  only  a  very  short 
time,  but  the  exact  date  of  his  death  is  uncertain.  There 
is  some  reason  for  thinking  that  his  end  was  hastened  by  the 
outbreak  of  a  fire  within  the  Imperial  City,  which  threatened 
it  with  destruction.  The  event  was  duly  notified  to  the 
Chinese  people  in  a  proclamation  by  his  successor,  in  which 
he  dilated  on  the  virtues  of  his  predecessor,  and  expressed 
the  stereotyped  wish  that  he  could  have  lived  a  hundred 
years. 

Taoukwang  was  in  his  sixty-ninth  year,  having  been  born 
on  September  12,  1781,  and  the  thirty  years  over  which  his 
reign  had  nearly  extended  were  among  the  most  eventful, 
and  in  some  respects  the  most  unfortunate,  in  the  annals  of 
his  country.  "When  he  was  a  young  man,  the  power  of  his 
grandfather,  Keen  Lung,  was  at  its  pinnacle,  but  the  mis- 
fortunes of  his  father's  reign  had  prepared  him  for  the 
greater  misfortunes  of  his  own,  and  the  school  of  adversity 
in  which  he  had  passed  the  greater  portion  of  his  life  had 
imbued  him  only  with  the  disposition  to  bear  calamity,  and 
not  the  vigor  to  grapple  with  it.  Yet  Taoukwang  was  not 
without  many  good  points,  and  he  seems  to  have  realized 
the  extent  of  the  national  trouble,  and  to  have  felt  acutely 


31 G  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

his  inability  to  retrieve  what  had  been  lost.  He  was  also 
averse  to  all  unnecessary  display,  and  his  expenditure  on  the 
court  and  himself  was  less  than  that  of  any  of  his  predeces- 
sors or  successors.  He  never  wasted  the  public  money  on 
his  own  person,  and  that  was  a  great  matter.  His  habits 
were  simple  and  manly. 

Although  Taoukwang's  reign  had  been  marked  by  un- 
qualified misfortune,  he  seems  to  have  derived  consolation 
from  the  belief  that  the  worst  was  over,  and  that  as  his 
authority  had  recovered  from  such  rude  shocks  it  was  not 
likely  to  experience  anything  worse.  He  had  managed  to 
extricate  himself  from  a  foreign  war,  which  was  attended 
with  an  actual  invasion  of  a  most  alarming  character,  with- 
out any  diminution  of  his  authority.  The  symptoms  of  in- 
ternal rebellion  which  had  revealed  themselves  in  more  than 
one  quarter  of  the  empire  had  not  attained  any  formidable 
dimensions,  and  seemed  likely  to  pass  away  without  endan- 
gering the  Chinese  constitution.  Taoukwang  may  have 
hoped  that  while  he  had  suffered  much  he  had  saved  his 
family  and  dynasty  from  more  serious  calamities,  and  that 
on  him  alone  had  fallen  the  resentment  of  an  offended 
Heaven.  The  experience  of  the  next  fifteen  years  was  to 
show  how  inaccurately  he  had  measured  the  situation,  and 
how  far  the  troubles  of  the  fifteen  years  following  his  death 
were  to  exceed  those  of  his  reign;  for  just  as  he  had  inherited 
from  his  father,  Kiaking,  a  legacy  of  trouble,  so  did  he  pass 
on  to  his  son  an  inheritance  of  misfortune  and  difficulty, 
rendered  all  the  more  onerous  by  the  pretension  of  supreme 
power  without  the  means  to  support  it. 

The  accession  of  Prince  Yihchoo — who  took  the  name 
of  Hienfung,  which  means  "great  abundance,"  or  "complete 
prosperity" — to  the  throne  threatened  for  a  moment  to  b« 
disturbed  by  the  ambition  of  his  uncle,  Hwuy  Wang,  who, 
it  will  be  remembered,  had  attempted  to  seize  the  throne 
from  his  brother  Taoukwang.  This  prince  had  lived  in  re- 
tirement during  the  last  years  of  his  brother's  reign,  and 
the  circumstances  which  emboldened  him  to  again  put  for- 


TAOUKWANG    AND   HIS   SUCCESSOR.  317 

ward  his  pretensions  will  not  be  known  until  the  state  his- 
tory of  the  Manchu  dynasty  is  published.  His  attempt 
signally  failed,  but  Hienfung  spared  his  life,  while  he  pun- 
ished the  ministers,  Keying  and  Muchangah,  for  their 
supposed  apathy,  or  secret  sympathy  with  the  aspirant  to 
the  imperial  office,  by  dismissing  them  from  their  posts. 
When  Hienfung  became  emperor  he  was  less  than  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  confer  the  title 
of  Prince  on  his  four  younger  brothers,  and  to  associate  them 
iu  the  administration  with  himself.  This  was  a  new  depart- 
ure in  the  Manchu  policy,  as  all  the  previous  emperors  had 
systematically  kept  their  brothers  in  the  background.  Hien- 
fung's  brothers  became  known  in  the  order  of  their  ages  as 
Princes  Kung,  Shun,  Chun,  and  Fu,  and  as  Hienfung  was 
the  fourth  son  of  Taoukwang,  they  were  also  distinguished 
numerically  as  the  Fifth,  Sixth,  Seventh,  and  Eighth  princes. 
Although  Hienfung  became  emperor  at  a  time  of  great  na- 
tional distress,  he  was  so  far  fortunate  that  an  abundant 
harvest,  in  the  year  1850,  tended  to  mitigate  it,  and  by  hav- 
ing recourse  to  the  common  Chinese  practice  of  "voluntary 
contributions,"  a  sufficiently  large  sum  was  raised  to  remove 
the  worst  features  of  the  prevailing  scarcity  and  suffering. 
But  these  temporary  and  local  measures  could  not  improve 
a  situation  that  was  radically  bad,  or  allay  a  volume  of  pop- 
ular discontent  that  was  rapidly  developing  into  unconcealed 
rebellion. 

An  imperial  proclamation  was  drawn  up  by  the  Hanlin 
College  in  which  Hienfung  took  upon  himself  the  whole 
blame  of  the  national  misfortunes,  but  the  crisis  had  got 
far  beyond  a  remedy  of  words.  The  corruption  of  the  public 
service  had  gradually  alienated  the  sympathies  of  the  people. 
Justice  and  probity  had  for  a  time  been  banished  from  the 
civil  service  of  China.  The  example  of  the  few  men  of 
honor  and  capacity  served  but  to  bring  into  more  prominent 
relief  the  faults  of  the  whole  class.  Justice  was  nowhere  to 
be  found ;  the  verdict  was  sold  to  the  highest  bidder.  The 
guilty,  if  well  provided  in  worldly  goods,  escaped  scot-free; 


318  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHIN  a. 

the  poor  suffered  for  their  own  frailties  as  well  as  the  crimes 
of  wealthier  offenders.  There  was  seen  the  far  from  uncom- 
mon case  of  individuals  sentenced  to  death  obtaining  substi- 
tutes for  the  capital  punishment.  Offices  were  sold  to  men 
who  had  never  passed  an  examination,  and  who  were  wholly 
illiterate,  and  the  sole  value  of  office  was  as  the  means  of 
extortion.  The  nation  was  heavily  taxed,  but  the  taxes  to 
the  state  were  only  the  smaller  part  of  the  sums  wrung  from 
the  people  of  the  Middle  Kingdom.  How  was  honor,  or  a 
sense  of  duty,  to  be  expected  from  men  who  knew  that  their 
term  of  office  must  be  short,  and  who  had  to  receive  their 
purchase  money  and  the  anticipated  profit  before  their  post 
was  sold  again  to  some  fresh  and  possibly  higher  bidder? 
The  officials  waxed  rich  on  ill-gotten  wealth,  and  a  few  in- 
dividuals accumulated  enormous  fortunes,  while  the  govern- 
ment sank  lower  and  lower  in  the  estimation  of  the  people. 
It  lost  also  in  efficiency  and  striking  power.  A  corrupt  and 
effeminate  body  of  officers  and  administrators  can  serve  but 
as  poor  defenders  for  an  embarrassed  prince  and  an  assailed 
government  against  even  enemies  who  are  in  themselves  in- 
significant and  not  free  from  the  vices  of  a  corrupt  society 
and  a  decaying  age,  and  it  was  only  on  such  that  Hienfung 
had  in  the  first  place  to  lean  against  his  opponents.  Even 
his  own  Manchus,  the  warlike  Tartars,  who,  despite  the 
smallness  of  their  numbers,  had  conquered  the  whole  of 
China,  had  lost  their  primitive  virtue  and  warlike  efficiency 
in  the  southern  climes  which  they  had  made  their  home.  To 
them  the  opulent  cities  of  the  Chinese  had  proved  as  fatal 
as  Capua  to  the  army  of  the  Carthaginian,  and,  as  the  self- 
immolations  of  Chapoo  and  Chinkiangfoo  proved  to  have  no 
successors,  they  showed  themselves  unworthy  of  the  empire 
won  by  their  ancestors.  For  the  first  time  since  the  revolt 
of  Wou  Sankwei,  the  Manchus  were  brought  face  to  face 
with  a  danger  threatening  their  right  of  conquest ;  yet  on 
the  eve  of  the  Taeping  Rebellion  all  Hienfung  could  think 
of  to  oppose  his  foes  with  was  fine  woids  as  to  his  shortcom 
ings  and  lavish  promises  of  amendment. 


TAOUKWANG    AND    HIS   SUCCESSOR.  319 

Among  the  secret  societies  the  Triads  were  the  first  to 
give  a  political  and  dynastic  significance  to  their  propa- 
ganda. The  opening  sentence  of  the  oath  of  membership 
read  as  follows:  "We  combine  everywhere  to  recall  the 
Ming  and  exterminate  the  barbarians,  cut  off  the  Tsing 
and  await  the  right  prince."  But  as  there  were  none  of 
the  Mings  left,  and  as  their  name  had  lost  whatever  hold 
it  may  have  possessed  on  the  minds  of  the  Chinese  people, 
this  proclaimed  object  tended  rather  to  deter  than  to  invite 
recruits  to  the  society.  Yet  if  any  secret  society  shared  in 
the  origination  of  the  Taeping  Rebellion  that  credit  belongs 
to  the  Triads,  whose  anti-Manchu  literature  enjoyed  a  wide 
circulation  through  Southern  China,  and  they  may  have 
had  a  large  share  in  drafting  the  programme  that  the 
Taeping  leader,  Tien  Wang,  attempted  to  carry  out. 

The  individual  on  whom  that  exalted  title  was  subse- 
quently bestowed  had  a  very  common  origin,  and  sprang 
from  an  inferior  race.  Hung-tsiuen,  such  was  his  own 
name,  was  the  son  of  a  small  farmer  near  Canton,  and 
he  was  a  hakka,  a  despised  race  of  tramps  who  bear  some 
resemblance  to  our  gypsies.  He  was  born  in  the  year  1813, 
and  he  seems  to  have  passed  all  his  examinations  with  spe- 
cial credit ;  but  the  prejudice  on  account  of  his  birth  pre- 
vented his  obtaining  any  employment  in  the  civil  service  of 
his  country.  He  was  therefore  a  disappointed  aspirant  to 
office,  and  at  such  a  period  it  was  not  surprising  that  he 
should  have  become  an  enemy  of  the  constituted  authorities 
and  the  government.  As  he  could  not  be  the  servant  of  the 
state  he  set  himself  the  ambitious  task  of  being  its  master, 
and  with  this  object  in  view  he  resorted  to  religious  practices 
in  order  to  acquire  a  popular  reputation,  and  a  following 
among  the  masses.  He  took  up  his  residence  in  a  Buddhist 
monastery;  and  the  ascetic  deprivations,  the  loud  prayers 
and  invocations,  the  supernatural  counsels  and  meetings, 
were  the  course  of  training  which  every  religious  devotee 
adopts  as  the  proper  novitiate  for  those  honors  based  on  the 
superstitious  reverence  of  mankind  which  are  sometimes  no 


320  A   SHORT  HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

inadequate  substitute  for  temporal  power  and  influence,  even 
when  they  fail  to  pave  the  way  to  their  attainment.  He  left 
his  place  of  seclusion  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  larg- 
est party  of  rebels,  who  had  made  their  headquarters  in  the 
remote  province  of  Kwangsi,  and  he  there  proclaimed  him- 
self as  Tien  "Wang,  which  means  the  Heavenly  Prince,  and 
as  an  aspirant  to  the  imperial  dignity.  Gradually  the  rebels 
acquired  possession  of  the  whole  of  the  territory  south  of  the 
Canton  River,  and  when  they  captured  the  strong  and  im- 
portant military  station  at  Nanning  the  emperor  sent  three 
commissioners,  one  of  them  being  his  principal  minister 
Saichangah,  to  bring  them  to  reason,  but  the  result  was 
not  encouraging,  and  although  the  Taepings  were  repulsed 
in  their  attempt  on  Kweiling,  they  remained  masters  of  thu, 
open  part  of  the  province.  One  of  the  Chinese  officers  had 
the  courage  to  write  and  tell  the  emperor  that  "the  outlaws 
were  neither  exterminated  nor  made  prisoners."  Notwith- 
standing the  enormous  expenditure  on  the  war  and  the  col- 
lection of  a  large  body  of  troops  the  imperial  forces  made  no 
real  progress  in  crushing  the  rebels.  Fear  or  inexperience 
prevented  them  from  coming  at  once  to  close  quarters  with 
the  Taepings,  when  their  superior  numbers  must  have  de- 
cided the  struggle  in  their  favor  and  nipped  a  most  formi- 
dable rebellion  in  the  bud.  That  some  of  Hienf  ung's  officers 
realized  the  position  can  be  gathered  from  the  following  let- 
ter, written  at  this  period  by  a  Chinese  mandarin:  "The 
whole  country  swarms  with  rebels.  Our  funds  are  nearly 
at  an  end,  and  our  troops  few ;  our  officers  disagree,  and  the 
power  is  not  concentrated.  The  commander  of  the  forces 
wants  to  extinguish  a  burning  wagonload  of  fagots  with  a 
cupful  of  water.  I  fear  we  shall  hereafter  have  some  serious 
affair — that  the  great  body  will  rise  against  us,  and  our  own 
people  leave  us."  The  military  operations  in  Kwangsi  lan- 
guished during  two  years,  although  the  tide  of  war  declared 
itself,  on  the  whole,  against  the  imperialists;  but  the  rebeis 
themselves  were  exposed  to  this  danger — that  they  were  ex- 
clusively dependent  on  the  resources  of  the  province,  and 


TAOUKWANG    AND    HIS   SUCCESSOR.  321 

that  these  being  exhausted,  they  were  in  danger  of  being 
compelled  to  retire  into  Tonquin.  It  was  at  this  exceed- 
ingly critical  moment  that  Tien  Wang  showed  himself  an 
able  leader  of  men  by  coming  to  the  momentous  decision 
to  march  out  of  Kwangsi,  and  invade  the  vast  and  yet  un- 
touched provinces  of  Central  China.  If  the  step  was  more 
the  pressure  of  dire  need  than  the  inspiration  of  genius,  it 
none  the  less  forms  the  real  turning-point  in  the  rebellion. 

Tien  Wang  announced  his  decision  by  issuing  a  proclama- 
tion, in  the  course  of  which  he  declared  that  he  had  received 
"the  Divine  commission  to  exterminate  the  Manchus,  and  to 
possess  the  empire  as  its  true  sovereign";  and,  as  it  was  also 
at  this  time  that  his  followers  became  commonly  known  as 
Taepings,  it  may  be  noted  that  the  origin  of  this  name  is 
somewhat  obscure.  According  to  the  most  plausible  ex- 
planation it  is  derived  from  the  small  town  of  that  name, 
situated  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the  province  of  Kwangsi, 
where  the  rebel  movement  seems  to  have  commenced.  An- 
other derivation  gives  it  as  the  style  of  the  dynasty  which 
Tien  Wang  hoped  to  found,  and  its  meaning  as  "Universal 
peace."  Having  called  in  all  his  outlying  detachments  and 
proclaimed  his  five  principal  lieutenants  by  titles  which  have 
been  rendered  as  the  northern,  southern,  eastern,  western 
and  assistant  kings,  Tien  Wang  began  his  northern  march 
in  April,  1852.  At  the  town  of  Yungan,  on  the  eastern 
borders  of  the  province  of  Kwangsi,  where  he  seems  to  have 
hesitated  between  an  attack  on  Canton  and  the  invasion  of 
Hoonan,  an  event  occurred  which  threatened  to  break  up 
his  force.  The  Triad  chiefs,  who  had  allied  themselves  with 
Tien  Wang,  were  superior  in  knowledge  and  station  to  the 
immediate  followers  of  the  Taeping  leader,  and  they  took 
offense  at  the  arrogance  of  his  lieutenants  after  they  had 
been  elevated  to  the  rank  of  kings.  These  officers,  who  pos- 
sessed no  claim  to  the  dignity  they  had  received,  assumed 
the  yellow  dress  and  insignia  of  Chinese  royalty,  and  looked 
down  on  all  their  comrades,  especially  the  Triad  organizers, 
who  thought  themselves  the  true  originators  of  the  rebellion. 


322  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHIN*. 

Irritated  by  this  treatment,  the  Triads  took  their  sudden  and 
secret  departure  from  the  Taeping  camp,  and  hastened  to 
make  their  peace  with  the  imperialists.  Of  these  Triads  one 
chief,  named  Chang  Kwoliang,  received  an  important  com- 
mand, and  played  a  considerable  part  in  the  later  stages  of 
the  struggle. 

The  defection  of  the  Triads  put  an  end  to  the  idea  of 
attacking  Canton,  and  the  Taepings  marched  to  attack 
Kweiling,  where  the  Imperial  Commissioners  still  remained. 
Tien  Wang's  assault  was  repulsed  with  some  loss,  and,  afraid 
of  discouraging  his  troops  by  any  further  attempt  to  seize  so 
strong  a  place,  he  marched  into  Hoonan.  Had  the  imperial 
commanders,  who  had  shown  no  inconsiderable  capacity  in 
defense,  exhibited  as  much  energy  in  offensive  measures, 
they  might  then  and  there  have  annihilated  the  power  of 
the  Taepings.  Had  they  pursued  the  Taeping  army  they 
might  have  harassed  its  rear,  delayed  its  progress,  and  event- 
ually brought  it  to  a  decisive  engagement  at  the  most  favor- 
able moment.  But  the  Imperial  Commissioners  did  nothing, 
being  apparently  well  satisfied  with  having  rid  themselves 
of  such  troublesome  neighbors.  The  advance  of  the  Tae- 
pings across  the  vast  province  of  Hoonan  was  almost  un- 
opposed. The  towns  were  unprepared  to  resist  an  assailant, 
and  it  was  not  until  Tien  Wang  reached  the  provincial  capi- 
tal, Changsha,  that  he  encountered  any  resistance  worthy 
of  the  name.  Some  vigorous  preparations  had  been  made 
here  to  resist  the  rebels.  Not  merely  was  there  a  garrison 
in  the  place,  but  it  so  happened  that  Tseng  Kwofan,  a  man 
of  considerable  ability  and  of  an  influential  family,  was  re- 
siding near  the  town.  Tseng  had  held  several  offices  in  the 
public  service,  and,  as  a  member  of  the  Hanlin,  enjoyed  a 
high  position  and  reputation;  but  he  happened  to  be  at  his 
own  home  in  retirement  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  a 
near  relation  when  tidings  of  the  approaching  Taepings 
reached  him,  and  he  at  once  made  himself  responsible  for 
the  defense  of  Changsha.  He  threw  himself  with  all  the 
forces  his  influence  or  resources  enabled  him  to  collect  into 


TAOUKWAXG    AND    HIS   SUCCESSOR.  3'23 

that  town,  and  at  the  same  time  he  ordered  all  the  militia 
of  the  province  to  collect  and  harass  the  enemy.  He  called 
upon  all  those  who  had  the  means  to  show  their  duty  to  the 
state  and  sovereign  by  raising  recruits  or  by  promising  re- 
wards to  those  volunteers  who  would  serve  in  the  army 
against  the  rebels.  Had  the  example  of  Tseng  Kwofan 
been  generally  followed,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
Taepings  would  never  have  got  to  Nankin.  "When  the  reb- 
els reached  Changsha,  therefore,  they  found  the  gates  closed, 
the  walls  manned,  and  the  town  victualed  for  a  siege.  They 
attempted  to  starve  the  place  into  surrender,  and  to  frighten 
the  garrison  into  yielding  by  threats  of  extermination ;  but 
when  these  efforts  failed  they  delivered  three  separate  as- 
saults, all  of  which  were  repulsed.  After  a  siege  of  eighty 
days,  and  having  suffered  very  considerable  losses,  the  Tae- 
pings abandoned  the  attack,  and  on  the  1st  of  December  re- 
sumed their  march  northward,  which,  if  information  could 
have  been  rapidly  transmitted,  would  have  soon  resulted  in 
their  overthrow.  On  breaking  up  from  before  Changsha 
they  succeeded  in  seizing  a  sufficient  number  of  junks  and 
boats  to  cross  the  great  inland  lake  of  Tungting,  and  on  reach- 
ing the  Yangtsekiang  at  Yochow  they  found  that  the  impe- 
rial garrison  had  fled  at  the  mere  mention  of  their  approach. 
The  capture  of  Yochow  was  important,  because  the  Tae- 
pings acquired  there  an  important  arsenal  of  much-needed 
weapons  and  a  large  supply  of  gunpowder,  which  was  said 
to  have  been  the  property  of  Wou  Sankwei.  Thus,  well 
equipped  and  supplying  their  other  deficiencies  by  celerity 
of  movement,  they  attacked  the  important  city  of  Hankow, 
which  surrendered  without  a  blow.  The  scarcely  less  im- 
portant town  of  Wouchang,  on  the  southern  and  opposite 
bank  of  the  river,  was  then  attacked,  and  carried  after  a 
siege  of  a  fortnight.  The  third  town  of  Hanyang,  which 
forms,  with  the  others,  the  most  important  industrial  and 
commercial  hive  in  Central  China,  also  surrendered  without 
any  attempt  at  resistance,  and  this  striking  success  at  once 
restored  the  sinking  courage  of  the  Taepings,  and  made  the 


824  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

danger  from  them  to  the  dynasty  again  wear  an  aspect  of 
the  most  pressing  importance. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  effect  of  this  suc- 
cess on  the  spirits  of  the  Taepings,  who  had  been  seriously 
discouraged  before  they  achieved  this  gratifying  result. 
The  capture  of  these  towns  removed  all  their  most  serious 
causes  of  doubt,  and  enabled  them  to  repay  themselves  for 
the  losses  and  hardships  they  had  undergone,  while  it  also 
showed  that  the  enterprise  they  had  in  hand  was  not  likely 
to  prove  unprofitable.  After  one  month's  rest  at  Hankow, 
and  having  been  joined  by  many  thousands  of  new  follow- 
ers, the  Taepings  resolved  to  pursue  their  onward  course. 
To  tell  the  truth,  they  were  still  apprehensive  of  pursuit 
from  Tseng  Kwofan,  who  had  been  joined  by  the  Triad 
leader,  Chang  Kwoliang ;  but  there  was  no  ground  for  the 
fear,  as  these  officials  considered  themselves  tied  to  their 
own  province,  and  unfortunately  the  report  of  the  success 
of  the  mperialists  in  Hoonan  blinded  people  to  the  danger 
in  the  Yangtse  Valley  from  the  Taepings.  The  Taepings 
resumed  active  operations  with  the  capture  of  Kiukiang 
and  Ganking,  and  in  March,  1853,  they  sat  down  before 
Nankin.  The  siege  continued  for  a  fortnight,  but  notwith 
standing  that  there  was  a  large  Manchu  force  in  the  Tartar 
city,  which  might  easily  have  been  defended  against  an 
enemy  without  artillery,  the  resistance  offered  was  singu- 
larly and  unexpectedly  faint-hearted.  The  Taepings  suc- 
ceeded in  blowing  in  one  of  the  gates,  the  townspeople 
fraternized  with  the  assailants,  and  the  very  Manchus  who 
had  defied  Sir  Hugh  Gough  in  1842  surrendered  their  lives 
and  their  honor  to  a  force  which  was  nothing  more  than  an 
armed  rabble.  The  Tartar  colony  at  Nankin,  numbering 
*,000  families,  had  evidently  lost  the  courage  and  discipline 
which  could  alone  enable  them  to  maintain  their  position  in 
China.  Instead  of  dying  at  their  posts  they  threw  them- 
selves on  the  mercy  of  the  Taeping  leader,  imploring  him 
for  pity  and  for  their  lives  when  the  gate  was  blown  in  by 
Tien  Wang's  soldiery.     Their  cowardice  helped  them  not; 


TAOUKWANG    AND    HIS   SUCCESSOR.  325 

of  20,000  Manchus  not  one  hundred  escaped.  The  tale  rests 
on  undoubted  evidence.  A  Taeping  who  took  part  in  the 
massacre  said,  "We  killed  them  all,  to  the  infant  in  arms; 
we  left  not  a  root  to  sprout  from,  and  the  bodies  of  the  slain 
we  cast  into  the  Yangtse. " 

The  acquisition  of  Nankin  at  once  made  the  Taepings  a 
formidable  rival  to  the  Manchus,  and  Tien  "Wang  a  contest- 
ant with  Hienfung  for  imperial  honors.  The  possession  of 
the  second  city  in  the  empire  gave  them  the  complete  con- 
trol of  the  navigation  of  the  Yangtsekiang,  and  thus  en- 
abled them  to  cut  off  communications  between  the  north  and 
the  south  of  China.  To  attain  this  object  in  a  still  more  per- 
fect manner  they  occupied  Chinkiangfoo  at  the  entrance  to 
the  Grand  Canal.  They  also  seized  Yangchow  on  the  north- 
ern bank  of  the  river  immediately  opposite  the  place  where 
Sir  Hugh  Gough  had  gained  his  decisive  victory  in  1842. 
Such  was  the  terror  of  the  Taepings  that  the  imperial  gar- 
risons did  not  attempt  the  least  resistance,  and  town  after 
town  was  evacuated  at  their  approach.  Tien  Wang,  en- 
couraged by  his  success,  transferred  his  headquarters  from 
Hankow  to  Nankin,  and  proclaimed  the  old  Ming  city  his 
capital.  By  rapidity  and  an  extraordinary  combination  of 
fortunate  circumstances,  the  Taepings  had  advanced  from 
the  remote  province  of  Kwangsi  into  the  heart  of  the  em- 
pire, but  it  was  clear  that  unless  they  could  follow  up  their 
success  by  some  blow  to  the  central  government  they  would 
lose  all  they  had  gained  as  soon  as  the  Manchus  recovered 
their  confidence.  At  a  council  of  war  at  Nankin  it  was  de- 
cided to  send  an  army  against  Pekin  as  soon  as  Nankin  had 
been  placed  in  a  proper  state  to  undergo  a  protracted  siege. 
Provisions  were  collected  to  stand  a  siege  for  six  or  seven 
years,  the  walls  were  repaired  and  fresh  batteries  erected. 
By  the  end  of  May,  1853,  these  preparations  were  com- 
pleted, and  as  the  Taeping  army  had  then  been  raised  to  a 
total  of  80,000  men,  it  was  decided  that  a  large  part  of  it 
could  be  spared  for  operations  north  of  the  Yangtsekiang. 
That  army  was  increased  to  a  very  large  total  by  volunteers 


S26  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

who  thought  an  expedition  to  humble  the  Manchus  at  the 
capital  promised  much  glory  and  spoil.  The  progress  of 
this  northern  army  very  closely  resembled  that  of  the  Tae- 
pings  from  Kwangsi  to  Nankin.  They  overran  the  open 
country,  and  none  of  the  imperial  troops  ventured  to  oppose 
them,  but  when  any  Manchu  officer  showed  valor  in  defend- 
ing a  walled  city  they  were  fain  to  admit  their  inadequate 
engineering  skill  and  military  capacity.  They  attacked  Kai- 
fong,  the  capital  of  Honan,  but  were  repulsed,  and  pursuing 
their  former  tactics  continued  their  march  to  Pekin.  Hav- 
ing crossed  the  Hoangho  they  attacked  Hwaiking,  where, 
after  being  delayed  two  months,  they  met  with  as  signal  a 
repulse  as  at  Kaifong.  Notwithstanding  this  further  re- 
verse, the  Taepings  pressed  on,  and  defeating  a  Manchu 
force  in  the  Lin  Limming  Pass,  they  entered  the  metropol- 
itan province  of  Pechihli  in  September,  1853.  The  object  of 
their  march  was  plain.  Not  only  did  they  mystify  the  em- 
peror's generals,  but  they  passed  through  an  untouched 
country  where  supplies  were  abundant,  and  they  thus  suc- 
ceeded in  coming  within  striking  distance  of  Pekin  in  al- 
most as  fresh  a  state  as  when  they  left  Nankin.  Such  was 
the  effect  produced  by  their  capture  of  the  Limming  Pass 
that  none  of  the  towns  in  the  southern  part  of  the  province 
attempted  any  resistance,  and  they  reached  Tsing,  only 
twenty  miles  south  of  Tientsin,  and  less  than  a  hundred 
from  Pekin,  before  the  end  of  October.  This  place  marked 
the  northern  limit  of  Taeping  progress,  and  a  reflex  wave  of 
Manchu  energy  bore  back  the  rebels  to  the  Yangtse. 

The  forcing  of  the  Limming  Pass  carried  confusion  and 
terror  into  the  imperial  palace  and  capital.  The  fate  of  the 
dynasty  seemed  to  tremble  in  the  balance  at  the  hands  of  a 
ruthless  and  determined  enemy.  There  happened  to  be  very 
few  troops  in  Pekin  at  the  time,  and  levies  had  to  be  hastily 
summoned  from  Mongolia.  If  the  Taepings  had  only  shown 
the  same  enterprise  and  rapidity  of  movement  that  they  had 
exhibited  up  to  this  point,  there  is  no  saying  that  the  central 
government  would  not  have  been  subverted  and  the  Man- 


TAOVKWANO    AND   HIS   SUCCESSOR.  WW 

chu  family  extinguished  as  completely  as  the  Mings.  But 
fortunately  for  Hienf ung,  an  unusual  apathy  fell  upon  the 
Taepings,  who  remained  halted  at  Tsing  until  the  Mongol 
levies  had  arrived,  under  their  great  chief,  Sankolinsin. 
They  seem  to  have  been  quite  exhausted  by  their  efforts, 
and  after  one  reverse  in  the  open  field  they  retired  to  their 
fortified  camp  at  Tsinghai,  and  sent  messengers  to  Tien# 
Wang  for  succor.  In  this  camp  they  were  closely  belea- 
guered by  Sankolinsin  from  October,  1853,  to  March,  1854, 
when  their  provisions  being  exhausted  they  cut  their  way 
out  and  began  their  retreat  in  a  southerly  direction.  They 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  exterminated  but  for  the  timely 
arrival  of  a  relieving  army  from  Nankin.  The  Taepings 
then  captured  Lintsing,  which  remained  their  headquarters 
for  some  months;  but  during  the  remainder  of  the  year  1854 
their  successes  were  few  and  unimportant.  They  were  vigi- 
lantly watched  by  the  imperial  troops,  which  had  expelled 
them  from  the  whole  of  the  province  of  Shantung  before 
March,  1855.  Their  numbers  were  thinned  by  disease  as 
well  as  loss  in  battle,  and  of  the  two  armies  sent  to  capture 
Pekin  only  a  small  fragment  ever  regained  Nankin.  While 
these  events  were  in  progress  in  the  region  north  of  Nankin, 
the  Taepings  had  been  carrying  their  arms  up  the  Yangtse- 
kiang  as  far  as  Ichang,  and  eastward  from  Nankin  to  the 
sea.  These  efforts  were  not  always  successful,  and  Tien 
Wang's  arms  experienced  as  many  reverses  as  successes. 
The  important  city  of  Kanchang,  the  capital  of  the  province 
of  Kiangsi,  was  besieged  by  them  for  four  months,  and  after 
many  attempts  to  carry  it  by  storm  the  Taepings  were  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  task.  They  were  more  successful  at 
Hankow,  which  they  recovered  after  a  siege  of  eighty  days. 
They  again  evacuated  this  town,  and  yet  once  again,  in 
1855,  wrested  it  from  an  imperial  garrison. 

The  establishment  of  Taeping  power  at  Nankin  and  the 
rumor  of  its  rapid  extension  in  every  direction  had  drawn 
the  attention  of  Europeans  to  the  new  situation  thus  created 
in  China,  and  had  aroused  opposite  opinions  in  different  seo- 


828  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

tions  of  the  foreign  community.  While  the  missionaries 
were  disposed  to  regard  the  Taepings  as  the  regenerators 
of  China,  and  as  the  champions  of  Christianity,  the  mer- 
chants only  saw  in  them  the  disturbers  of  peace  and  the  ene- 
mies of  commerce.  To  such  an  extent  did  the  latter  antici- 
pate the  ruin  of  their  trade  that  they  petitioned  the  consuls 
to  suspend,  if  not  withhold,  the  payment  of  the  stipulated 
customs  to  the  Chinese  authorities.  This  proposed  breach 
of  treaty  was  emphatically  rejected,  and  the  consuls  en- 
joined the  absolute  necessity  of  preserving  a  strict  neutrality 
between  the  Taepings  and  the  imperial  forces.  But  at  the 
same  time  it  became  necessary  to  acquaint  the  Taeping  ruler 
with  the  fact  that  he  would  be  expected  to  observe  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Treaty  of  Nankin  as  scrupulously  as  if  he 
were  sovereign  of  China  or  a  Manchu  viceroy.  Sir  George 
Bonham,  the  superintendent  of  trade  and  the  governor  of 
Hongkong,  determined  to  proceed  in  person  to  Nankin,  in 
order  to  acquaint  the  Taepings  with  what  would  be  expected 
from  them,  and  also  to  gain  necessary  information  as  to  their 
strength  and  importance  by  personal  observation,  But  un- 
fortunately this  step  of  Sir  George  Bonham  tended  to  help 
the  Taepings  by  increasing  their  importance  and  spreading 
about  the  belief  that  the  Europeans  recognized  in  them  the 
future  ruling  power  of  China.  It  was  not  intended  to  be, 
but  it  was  none  the  less,  an  unfriendly  act  to  the  Pekin 
government,  and  as  it  produced  absolutely  no  practical 
result  with  the  Taepings  themselves,  it  was  distinctly  a 
mistaken  measure.  Its  only  excuse  was  that  the  imperial 
authorities  were  manifesting  an  increasing  inclination  to 
enlist  the  support  of  Europeans  against  the  rebels,  and  it 
was  desirable  that  accurate  information  should  be  obtained 
beforehand.  The  Taotai  of  Shanghai  even  presented  a  re- 
quest for  the  loan  of  the  man-of-war  at  that  port,  and  when 
he  was  informed  that  we  intended  to  remain  strictly  neutral, 
the  decision  was  also  come  to  to  inform  the  Taepings  of  this 
fact.  Therefore  in  April,  1853,  before  the  army  had  left  for 
the  northern  campaign,  Sir  George  Bonham  sailed  for  Nan- 


TAOUKWANG  AND  HIS  SUCCESSOR.  329 

Kin  in  the  "Hermes'*  man-of-war  On  the  twenty-seventh 
of  that  month  the  vessel  anchored  off  Nankin,  and  several 
interviews  were  held  with  the  Taeping  "Wangs,  of  whom  the 
Northern  King  was  at  this  time  the  most  influential.  The 
negotiations  lasted  a  week,  and  they  had  no  result.  It  was 
soon  made  apparent  that  the  Taepings  were  as  exclusive  and 
impracticable  as  the  worst  Manchu  mandarin,  and  that  they 
regarded  the  Europeans  as  an  inferior  and  subject  people. 
Sir  George  Bonham  failed  to  establish  any  direct  communi- 
cation with  Tien  Wang,  who  had  by  this  retired  into  private 
life,  and  while  it  was  given  out  that  he  was  preparing  sacred 
books  he  was  really  abandoning  himself  to  the  pursuit  of 
profligacy.  There  is  nothing  to  cause  surprise  in  the  fact 
that  the  apathy  of  Tien  Wang  led  to  attempts  to  supersede 
him  in  his  authority.  The  Eastern  King  in  particular  posed 
as  the  delegate  of  Heaven.  He  declared  that  he  had  inter- 
views with  the  celestial  powers  when  in  a  trance,  he  as- 
sumed the  title  of  the  Holy  Ghost  or  the  Comforter,  and  he 
censured  Tien  "Wang  for  his  shortcomings,  and  even  inflicted 
personal  chastisement  upon  him.  If  he  had  had  a  following 
he  might  have  become  the  despot  of  the  Taepings,  but  as  he 
offended  all  alike  his  career  was  cut  short  by  a  conspiracy 
among  the  other  Wangs,  who,  notwithstanding  his  heavenly 
conferences,  murdered  him. 

At  this  period  one  of  the  most  brilliant  military  exploits 
of  the  Taepings  was  performed,  and  as  it  served  to  introduce 
the  real  hero  of  the  whole  movement,  it  may  be  described  in 
more  detail  than  the  other  operations,  which  were  conducted 
in  a  desultory  manner,  and  which  were  unredeemed  by  any 
exhibition  of  courage  or  military  capacity.  The  government 
had  succeeded  in  placing  two  considerable  armies  in  the 
field.  One  numbering  40,000  men,  under  the  command  of 
Hochun  and  the  ex-Triad  Chang  Kwoliang,  watched  Nankin, 
while  the  other,  commanded  by  a  Manchu  general,  laid  close 
siege  to  Chankiang,  which  seemed  on  the  point  of  surrender. 
The  Taepings  at  Nankin  determined  to  effect  its  relief,  and 
a  large  force  was  placed  under  the  orders  of  an  officer  named 


330  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

Li,  but  whom  it  will  be  more  convenient  to  designate  by  the 
title  subsequently  conferred  on  him  of  Chung  Wang,  or  the 
Faithful  King.  His  energy  and  courage  had  already  at- 
tracted favorable  notice,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  exe- 
cuted the  difficult  operation  intrusted  to  him  fully  established 
his  reputation.  By  a  concerted  movement  with  the  Taeping 
commandant  of  Chankiang,  he  attacked  the  imperialist  lines 
at  the  same  time  as  the  garrison  made  a  sortie,  and  the  result 
was  a  decisive  victory.  Sixteen  stockades  were  carried  by 
assault,  and  the  Manchu  army  was  driven  away  from  the 
town  which  seemed  to  lie  at  its  mercy.  But  this  success 
promised  only  to  be  momentary,  for  the  imperialist  forces, 
collecting  from  all  sides,  barred  the  way  back  to  Nankin, 
while  the  other  Manchu  army  drew  nearer  to  that  city,  and 
its  general  seemed  to  meditate  attacking  Tien  Wang  in  his 
capital.  An  imperative  summons  was  sent  to  Chung  Wang 
to  return  to  Nankin.  As  the  imperialist  forces  were  for  the 
most  part  on  the  southern  side  of  the  river,  Chung  Wang 
crossed  to  the  northern  bank  and  began  his  march  to  Nankin. 
He  had  not  proceeded  far  when  he  found  that  the  imperial- 
ists had  also  crossed  over  to  meet  him,  and  that  his  progress 
was  arrested  by  their  main  army  under  Chang  Kwoliang. 
With  characteristic  decision  and  rapidity  he  then  regained 
the  southern  bank,  and  falling  on  the  weakened  imperialists 
gained  so  considerable  a  victory  that  the  Manchu  commander 
felt  bound  to  commit  suicide.  After  some  further  fighting 
he  made  good  his  way  back  to  Nankin.  But  when  he  ar- 
rived there  the  tyrant  Tung  Wang  refused  to  admit  him  into 
the  city  until  he  had  driven  away  the  main  imperialist  army, 
which  had  been  placed  under  the  command  of  Hienfung's 
generalissimo,  Heang  Yung,  and  which  had  actually  seized 
one  of  the  gates  of  the  city.  Although  Chung  Wang's  troops 
were  exhausted  they  attacked  the  government  troops  with 
great  spirit,  and  drove  them  back  as  far  as  Tanyang,  where, 
however,  they  succeeded  in  holding  their  ground,  notwith- 
standing his  repeated  efforts  to  dislodge  them.  Heang 
Yung,  taking  his  misfortune  too  deeply  to  heart,  committed 


TAOUKWANG    AND   HIS   SUCCESSOR.  331 

suicide,  and  thus  deprived  the  emperor  of  at  least  a  brave 
officer.  But  with  this  success  the  Taeping  tide  of  victory- 
reached  its  end,  for  Chang  Kwoliang  arriving  with  the  other 
imperialist  army,  the  whole  force  fell  upon  Chung  Wang 
and  drove  him  back  into  the  city  with  the  loss  of  700  of  his 
best  men,  so  that  the  result  left  of  Chung  Wang's  campaign 
was  the  relief  of  Chankiang  and  the  return  to  the  status  quo 
at  Nankin.  It  was  immediately  after  these  events  that 
Tung  Wang  was  assassinated,  and  scenes  of  blood  followed 
which  resulted  in  the  massacre  of  20,000  persons  and  the 
disappearance  of  all,  except  one,  of  the  Wangs  whom  Tien 
Wang  had  created  on  the  eve  of  his  enterprise.  Chung 
Wang  seems  to  have  had  no  part  in  these  intrigues  and  mas- 
sacres, and  there  is  little  doubt  that  if  the  imperialist  com- 
manders had  taken  prompt  advantage  of  them  the  Taepings 
might  have  been  crushed  at  that  moment,  or  ten  years  earlier 
than  proved  to  be  the  case. 

While  the  main  Taeping  force  was  thus  causing  serious 
danger  to  the  existing  government  of  China,  its  offshoots  or 
imitators  were  emulating  its  example  in  the  principal  treaty 
ports,  which  brought  the  rebels  into  contact  with  the  Eu- 
ropeans. The  Chinese  officials,  without  any  military  power 
on  which  they  could  rely,  had  endeavored  to  maintain  order 
among  the  turbulent  classes  of  the  population  by  declaring 
that  the  English  were  the  allies  of  the  emperor,  and  that 
they  would  come  to  his  aid  with  their  formidable  engines  of 
war  if  there  were  any  necessity.  Undoubtedly  this  threat 
served  its  turn  and  kept  the  turbulent  quiet  for  a  certain 
period;  but  when  it  could  no  longer  be  concealed  that  the 
English  were  determined  to  take  no  part  in  the  struggle, 
the  position  of  the  goverument  was  weakened  by  the  oft- 
repeated  declaration  that  they  mainly  relied  on  the  support 
of  the  foreigners.  The  first  outbreak  occurred  at  Amoy  in 
May,  1853,  when  some  thousand  marauders,  under  an  in- 
dividual named  Magay,  seized  the  town  and  held  it  until 
the  following  November.  The  imperialists  returned  in  suffi- 
cient force  in  that  month  and  regained  possession  of  the 


332  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

town,  when,  unfortunately  for  their  reputation,  they  avenged 
their  expulsion  in  a  particularly  cruel  and  ^discriminating 
fashion.  Many  thousand  citizens  were  executed  without 
any  form  of  trial,  and  the  arrest  of  the  slaughter  was  en- 
tirely due  to  the  intervention  of  the  English  naval  officer  at 
Amoy.  The  rising  at  Shanghai  was  of  a  more  serious  char- 
acter, and  took  a  much  longer  time  to  suppress.  As  the 
European  settlement  there  was  threatened  with  a  far  more 
imminent  danger  than  anywhere  else,  preparations  to  defend 
it  began  in  April,  1853,  and  under  the  auspices  of  the  consul, 
Mr.  Rutherford  Alcock,  the  residents  were  formed  into  a 
volunteer  corps,  and  the  men-of-war  drawn  up  so  as  to 
effectually  cover  the  whole  settlement.  These  precautions 
were  taken  in  good  time,  for  nothing  happened  to  disturb 
the  peace  until  the  following  September.  The  Triads  were 
undoubtedly  the  sole  instigators  of  the  rising,  and  the 
Taepings  of  Nankin  were  in  no  sense  responsible  for,  or 
participators  in  it.  They  seized  the  Taotai's  official  residence, 
and  as  his  guard  deserted  him,  that  officer  barely  escaped 
with  his  life.  Other  officials  were  not  so  fortunate,  but  on 
the  whole  Shanghai  was  acquired  by  the  rebels  with  very 
little  bloodshed.  In  a  few  hours  this  important  Chinese  city 
passed  into  the  hands  of  a  lawless  and  refractory  mob,  who 
lived  on  the  plunder  of  the  townspeople,  and  who  were  ripe 
for  any  mischief.  The  European  settlement  was  placed 
meantime  in  a  position  of  efficient  defense,  and  although 
the  Triads  wished  to  have  the  spoil  of  its  rich  factories,  they 
very  soon  decided  that  the  enterprise  would  be  too  risky,  if 
not  impossible. 

After  some  weeks'  inaction  the  imperialist  forces,  gath- 
ering from  all  quarters,  proceeded  to  invest  the  marauders 
in  Shanghai,  and  had  the  attack  been  conducted  with  any 
degree  of  military  skill  and  vigor  they  must  have  succumbed 
at  the  first  onset.  But,  owing  to  the  pusillanimity  of  the 
emperor's  officers  and  their  total  ignorance  of  the  military 
art,  the  siege  went  on  for  an  indefinite  period,  and  twelve 
months  after  it  began  seemed  as  far  off  conclusion  as  ever. 


TAOUKWANG    AND   HIS   SUCCESSOR.  333 

While  the  imperialists  laboriously  constructed  thek*  lines 
and  batteries  they  never  ceased  to  importune  the  Europeans 
for  assistance,  and  as  it  became  clearer  that  the  persons  in 
possession  of  Shanghai  were  a  mob  rather  than  a  power,  the 
desire  increased  among  the  foreigners  generally  to  put  an 
end  to  what  was  an  intolerable  position.  On  this  occasion 
the  French  took  an  initiative  which  had  previously  been  left 
to  the  English.  The  French  settlement  at  Shanghai  con- 
sisted at  this  time  of  a  consulate,  a  cathedral,  and  one  house, 
but  as  it  was  situated  nearest  the  walls  of  the  Chinese  city 
it  was  most  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  besiegers  and  besieged. 
In  consequence  of  this  the  French  admiral,  Laguerre,  de- 
termined to  take  a  part  in  the  struggle,  and  erecting. a  bat- 
tery in  the  French  settlement,  proceeded  to  bombard  the 
rebels  on  one  side  of  the  city  while  the  imperialists  attacked 
it  on  another.  Although  the  bombardment  was  vigorous 
and  effective,  the  loss  inflicted  on  the  insurgents  was  incon- 
siderable, because  they  had  erected  an  earthwork  behind  the 
main  wall  of  the  place,  and  every  day  the  Triads  challenged 
the  French  to  come  on  to  the  assault.  At  last  a  breach  was 
declared  to  be  practicable,  and  400  French  sailors  and  marines 
were  landed  to  carry  it,  while  the  imperialists,  wearing  blue 
sashes  to  distinguish  them  from  the  rebels,  escaladed  the 
walls  at  another  point.  But  the  assault  was  premature,  for, 
although  the  assailants  gained  the  inside  of  the  fortification, 
they  could  not  advance.  The  insurgents  fought  desperately 
behind  the  earthworks  and  in  the  streets,  and  after  four 
hours'  fighting  they  put  the  whole  imperialist  force  to  flight. 
The  French  were  carried  along  by  their  disheartened  allies, 
who,  allowing  race  hatred  to  overcome  a  temporary  arrange- 
ment, even  fired  on  them,  and  when  Admiral  Laguerre  reck- 
oned up  the  cost  of  his  intervention  he  found  it  amounted  to 
tour  officers  and  sixty  men  killed  and  wounded.  Such  was 
the  result  of  the  French  attack  on  Shanghai,  and  it  taught 
the  lesson  that  even  good  European  troops  cannot  ignore  the 
recognized  rules  and  precautions  of  war.  After  this  en- 
gagement the  siege  languished,  and  the  French  abstained 


334  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

from  taking  any  further  part  in  it.  But  the  imperialists 
continued  their  attack  in  their  own  bungling  but  persistent 
fashion,  and  at  last  the  insurgents,  having  failed  to  obtain 
the  favorable  terms  they  demanded,  made  a  desperate  sortie, 
when  a  few  made  their  way  to  the  foreign  settlement,  where 
they  found  safety,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  perished 
by  the  sword  of  the  imperialists.  More  than  1,500  insur- 
gents were  captured  and  executed  along  the  highroads,  but 
the  two  leaders  of  the  movement  escaped,  one  of  them  to 
attain  great  fortune  as  a  merchant  in  Siam.  The  imperial- 
ists unfortunately  sullied  their  success  by  grave  excesses  and 
by  the  cruel  treatment  of  the  unoffending  townspeople,  who 
were  made  to  suffer  for  the  original  incapacity  and  cowardice 
of  the  officials  themselves.  At  Canton,  which  was  also 
visited  by  the  Triads  in  June,  1854,  matters  took  a  different 
course.  The  Chinese  merchants  and  shopkeepers  combined 
and  raised  a  force  for  their  own  protection,  and  these  well- 
paid  braves  effectually  kept  the  insurgents  out  of  Canton. 
They,  however,  seized  the  neighboring  town  of  Fatshan, 
where  the  manufacturing  element  was  in  strong  force,  and 
but  for  the  unexpected  energy  of  the  Cantonese  they  would 
undoubtedly  have  seized  the  larger  city  too,  as  the  govern- 
ment authorities  were  not  less  apathetic  here  than  at  Shang- 
hai. The  disturbed  condition  of  things  continued  until  Feb- 
ruary, 1855,  when  the  wholesale  executions  by  which  its 
suppression  was  marked,  and  during  which  a  hundred  thou- 
sand persons  are  said  to  have  perished,  ceased. 

The  events  have  now  been  passed  in  review  which  marked 
the  beginning  and  growth  of  the  Taeping  Rebellion,  from  the 
time  of  its  being  a  local  rising  in  the  province  of  Kwangsi  to 
the  hour  of  its  leader  being  installed  as  a  ruling  prince  in  the 
ancient  city  of  Nankin.  But  from  the  growing  Taeping 
Rebellion,  which  we  have  now  followed  down  to  the  year 
1856,  our  attention  must  be  directed  to  the  more  serious  and 
important  foreign  question  which  had  again  reached  a  crisis, 
and  which  would  not  wait  on  the  convenience  of  the  Celestial 
emperor  and  his  advisers. 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  335 


CHAPTER   XIX 

THE    SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR 

The  events  which  caused  the  second  foreign  war  began 
to  come  into  evidence  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  first ; 
and  for  the  sake  of  clearness  and  brevity  they  have  been  left 
for  consideration  to  the  same  chapter,  although  they  hap- 
pened while  Taoukwang  was  emperor.  After  the  departure 
of  Sir  Henry  Pottinger,  who  was  succeeded  by  Sir  John 
Davis,  and  the  arrival  of  the  representatives  of  the  other 
European  powers,  who  hastened  tp  claim  the  same  rights 
and  privileges  as  had  been  accorded  to  England,  the  main 
task  to  be  accomplished  was  to  practically  assert  the  rights 
that  had  been  theoretically  secured,  and  to  place  the  rela- 
tions of  the  two  nations  on  what  may  be  called  a  working 
basis.  The  consulates  were  duly  appointed,  the  necessary 
land  for  the  foreign  settlements  was  acquired,  and  the  war 
indemnity  being  honorably  discharged,  Chusan  was  restored 
to  the  Chinese.  With  regard  to  the  last  matter  there  was 
some  maneuvering  of  a  not  altogether  creditable  nature,  and 
although  the  Chinese  paid  the  last  installment  punctually  to 
date,  Chusan  and  Kulangsu  were  not  evacuated  for  some 
months  after  the  stipulated  time.  It  was  said  that  our  hesi- 
tation in  the  former  case  was  largely  due  to  the  fear  that 
France  would  seize  it;  but  this  has  been  permanently  re- 
moved by  the  expressed  assertion  of  our  prior  right  to  occupy 
it.  A  far  more  gratifying  subject  is  suggested  by  the  har- 
mony of  the  relations  which  were  established  in  Chusan 
between  the  garrison  under  Sir  Colin  Campbell  and  the 
islanders,  who  expressed  deep  regret  at  the  departure  of 
the  English  troops.  The  first  members  of  the  consular  staff 
in  China  were  as  follows :  Mr.  G.  T.  Lay  was  consul  at  Can- 
ton, Captain  George  Balfour  at  Shanghai  (where,  however, 


336  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

he  was  soon  succeeded  by  Sir  Rutherford  Alcock),  Mr.  Henry 
Gribble  at  Amoy,  and  Mr.  Robert  Thorn  at  Ningpo.  Among 
the  interpreters  were  the  future  Sir  Thomas  Wade  and  Sir 
Harry  Parkes.  Various  difficulties  presented  themselves 
with  regard  to  the  foreign  settlements,  and  the  island  of 
Kulangsu  at  Amoy  had  to  be  evacuated  because  its  name 
was  not  mentioned  in  the  treaty.  At  Canton  also  an  attempt 
was  made  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  the  foreign  settlement 
by  taking  advantage  of  a  great  conflagration,  but  in  this 
attempt  the  Europeans  were  baffled  by  the  superior  quick- 
ness of  the  Chinese,  who  constructed  their  new  houses  in  a 
single  night.  These  incidents  showed  that  the  sharpness 
was  not  all  on  one  side,  and  that  if  the  Chinese  were  back- 
ward in  conceding  what  might  be  legitimately  demanded, 
the  Europeans  were  not  averse  to  snatching  an  advantage 
if  they  saw  the  chance. 

The  turbulence  of  the  Canton  populace,  over  whom  the 
officials  possessed  but  a  nominal  control,  was  a  constant  cause 
of  disagreement  and  trouble.  In  the  spring  of  1846  a  riot 
was  got  up  by  the  mob  on  the  excuse  that  a  vane  erected  on 
the  top  of  the  flagstaff  over  the  American  Consulate  inter- 
fered with  the  Fung  Shui,  or  spirits  of  earth  and  air;  and 
although  it  was  removed  to  allay  the  excitement  of  the  su- 
perstitious, the  disturbance  continued,  and  several  personal 
encounters  took  place,  in  one  of  which  a  Chinese  was  killed. 
The  Chinese  mandarins,  incited  by  the  mob,  demanded  the 
surrender  of  the  man  who  fired  the  shot;  and  that  they 
should  have  made  such  a  demand,  after  they  had  formally 
accepted  and  recognized  the  jurisdiction  of  consular  courts, 
furnished  strong  evidence  that  they  had  not  mastered  the 
lessons  of  the  late  war  or  reconciled  themselves  to  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Treaty  of  Nankin.  The  fortunate  arrival  of 
Keying  to  "amicably  regulate  the  commerce  with  foreign 
countries"  smoothed  over  this  difficulty,  and  the  excitement 
of  the  Canton  mob  was  allayed  without  any  surrender.  It 
was  almost  at  this  precise  moment,  too,  that  Taoukwang 
made  the  memorable  admission  that  the  Christian  religion 


THE   SECOND   FOREIGN   WAR.  337 

might  be  tolerated  as  one  inculcating  the  principles  of  virtue. 
But  the  two  pressing  and  practical  difficulties  in  the  foreign 
question  were  the  opening  of  the  gates  of  Canton  and  the 
right  of  foreigners  to  proceed  beyond  the  limits  of  their  fac- 
tories and  compounds.  The  Chinese  wished  for  many  rea- 
sons, perhaps  even  for  the  safety  of  the  foreigners,  to  confine 
them  to  their  settlements,  and  it  might  be  plausibly  argued 
that  the  treaty  supported  this  construction.  Of  course  such 
confinement  was  intolerable,  and  English  merchants  and  oth- 
ers would  not  be  prevented  from  making  boating  or  shooting 
excursions  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  settlements.  The  Chi- 
nese authorities  opposed  these  excursions,  and  before  long  a 
collision  occurred  with  serious  consequences.  In  March,  1847, 
a  small  party  of  Englishmen  proceeded  in  a  boat  to  Fatshan, 
a  manufacturing  town  near  Canton  which  has  been  called 
the  Chinese  Birmingham.  On  reaching  the  place  symptoms 
of  hostility  were  at  once  manifested,  and  the  Europeans  with- 
drew for  safety  to  the  yamen  of  the  chief  magistrate,  who 
happened  unfortunately  to  be  away.  By  this  time  the  popu- 
lace had  got  very  excited,  and  the  Englishmen  were  with 
difficulty  escorted  in  safety  to  their  boat.  The  Chinese,  how- 
ever, pelted  them  with  stones,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of 
the  chief  officer,  who  had  by  this  time  returned  and  taken 
the  foreigners  under  his  protection.  It  was  due  to  his  great 
heroism  that  they  escaped  with  their  lives  and  without  any 
serious  injury. 

The  incident,  unpleasant  in  itself,  might  have  been  ex- 
plained away  and  closed  without  untoward  consequences  if 
Sir  John  Davis  had  not  seized,  as  he  thought,  a  good  oppor- 
tunity of  procuring  greater  liberty  and  security  for  English- 
men at  Cnnton.  He  refused  to  see  in  this  affair  an  accident, 
but  denounced  it  as  an  outrage,  and  proclaimed  "that  he 
would  exact  and  require  from  the  Chinese  government  that 
British  subjects  should  be  as  free  from  molestation  and  in- 
sult in  China  as  they  would  be  in  England."  This  demand 
was  both  unreasonable  and  unjust.  It  was  impossible  that 
the  hated  foreigner,  or  "foreign  devil,"  as  he  was  called, 

15 


538  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

could  wander  about  the  country  in  absolute  security  when 
the  treaty  wrung  from  the  emperor  as  the  result  of  an  ardu- 
ous war  confined  him  to  five  ports,  and  limited  the  emperor's 
capacity  to  extend  protection  to  those  places.  But  Sir  John 
Davis  determined  to  take  this  occasion  of  forcing  events,  so 
that  he  might  compel  the  Chinese  to  afford  greater  liberty 
to  his  countrymen,  and  thus  hasten  the  arrival  of  the  day 
for  the  opening  of  the  gates  of  Canton.  On  the  1st  of  April 
all  the  available  troops  at  Hongkong  were  warned  for  imme- 
diate service,  and  on  the  following  day  the  two  regiments  in 
garrison  left  in  three  steamers  and  escorted  by  one  man-of- 
war  to  attack  Canton.  They  landed  at  the  Bogue  forts, 
seized  the  batteries  without  opposition  and  spiked  the  guns. 
The  Chinese  troops,  whether  surprised  or  acting  under  or- 
ders from  Keying,  made  no  attempt  at  resistance.  Not  a 
shot  was  fired,  not  a  man  was  injured  among  the  assailants. 
The  forts  near  Canton,  the  very  batteries  on  the  island  op- 
posite the  city,  were  captured  without  a  blow,  and  on  the 
3d  of  April,  1847,  Canton  again  lay  at  the  mercy  of  an  En- 
glish force.  Sir  John  Davis  then  published  another  notice, 
stating  that  "he  felt  that  the  moderation  and  justice  of  all 
his  former  dealings  with  the  government  of  China  lend  a 
perfect  sanction  to  measures  which  he  has  been  reluctantly 
compelled  to  adopt  after  a  long  course  of  misinterpreted  for- 
bearance," and  made  certain  demands  of  the  Chinese  au- 
thorities which  may  be  epitomized  as  follows :  The  City  of 
Canton  to  be  opened  at  two  years'  date  from  April  6, 
1847;  Englishman  to  be  at  liberty  to  roam  for  exercise  or 
amusement  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  on  the  one  con- 
dition that  they  returned  the  same  day ;  and  some  minor 
conditions,  to  which  no  exception  could  be  taken.  After 
brief  consideration,  and  notwithstanding  the  clamor  of  the 
Cantonese  to  be  led  against  the  foreigners,  Keying  agreed 
to  the  English  demands,  although  he  delivered  a  side-thrust 
at  the  high-handed  proceedings  of  the  English  officer  when 
he  said,  "If  a  mutual  tranquillity  is  to  subsist  between  the 
Chinese  and  foreigners,  the  common  feelings  of  mankind, 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR  339 

as  well  as  the  just  principles  of  Heaven,  must  be  considered 
and  conformed  with." 

Keying,  by  the  terms  of  his  convention  with  Sir  John 
Davis,  had  agreed  that  the  gates  of  Canton  were  to  be 
opened  on  April  6,  1849,  but  the  nearer  that  day  approached 
the  more  doubtful  did  it  appear  whether  the  promise  would 
be  complied  with,  and  whether,  in  the  event  of  refusal,  it 
would  be  wise  to  have  recourse  to  compulsion.  The  officials 
on  both  sides  were  unfeignedly  anxious  for  a  pacific  solution, 
but  trade  was  greatly  depressed  in  consequence  of  the  threat- 
ening demeanor  of  the  Canton  populace.  There  was  scarcely 
any  doubt  that  the  Chinese  authorities  did  not  possess  the 
power  to  compel  obedience  on  the  part  of  the  Cantonese  to 
an  order  to  admit  Europeans  into  their  city,  and  on  the  ques- 
tion being  referred  to  Taoukwang  he  made  an  oracular  reply 
which  was  interpreted  as  favoring  the  popular  will.  ' ' That, ' ' 
he  said,  "to  which  the  hearts  of  the  people  incline  is  that  on 
which  the  decree  of  Heaven  rests.  Now  the  people  of  Kwan- 
tung  are  unanimous  and  determined  that  they  will  not  have 
foreigners  enter  the  city ;  and  how  can  I  post  up  everywhere 
my  imperial  order  and  force  an  opposite  course  on  the  peo- 
ple?" The  English  government  was  disposed  to  show  great 
forbearance  and  refrained  from  opposing  Taoukwang's  views. 
But  although  the  matter  was  allowed  to  drop,  the  right  ac- 
quired by  the  convention  with  Keying  was  not  surrendered; 
and,  as  Taoukwang  had  never  formally  ratified  the  promise 
of  that  minister,  it  was  considered  that  there  had  been  no 
distinct  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment. The  Chinese  continued  to  cling  tenaciously  to  their 
rights,  and  to  contest  inch  by  inch  every  concession  de- 
manded by  the  Europeans,  and  sometimes  they  were  within 
their  written  warrant  in  doing  so.  Such  a  case  happened 
at  Foochow  shortly  after  the  accession  of  Hienfung,  when 
an  attempt  was  made  to  prevent  foreigners  residing  in  that 
town,  and  after  a  long  correspondence  it  was  discovered  that 
the  Chinese  were  so  far  right,  as  the  treaty  specified  as  the 
place  of  foreign  residence  the  kiangkan  or  mart  at  the  mouth 


340  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

of  the  river,  and  not  the  citing  or  town  itself.  It  was  at  this 
critical  moment  that  the  Chinese  were  attracted  in  large  num- 
bers by  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  and  Australia  to 
emigrate  from  China,  and  they  showed  themselves  well  ca- 
pable by  their  trade  organization  and  close  union  of  obtain- 
ing full  justice  for  themselves  and  an  ample  recognition  of 
all  their  rights  in  foreign  countries.  The  effect  of  this  emi- 
gration on  Chinese  public  opinion  was  much  less  than  might 
have  been  expected,  and  the  settlement  of  the  foreign  ques- 
tion was  in  no  way  simplified  or  expedited  by  their  influence. 

The  position  of  affairs  at  Canton  could  not,  by  the  great- 
est stretch  of  language,  be  pronounced  satisfactory.  The 
populace  was  unequivocally  hostile;  the  officials  had  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  making  their  authority  respected,  and 
the  English  government  was  divided  between  the  desire  to 
enforce  the  stipulation  as  to  the  opening  of  the  Canton  gates, 
and  the  fear  lest  insistence  might  result  in  a  fresh  and  seri- 
ous rupture.  Sir  George  Bonham,  who  succeeded  Sir  John 
Davis,  gave  counsels  of  moderation,  and  when  he  found  that 
some  practical  propositions  which  he  made  for  improved  in- 
tercourse were  rejected  he  became  more  convinced  that  the 
question  must  wait  for  solution  for  a  more  convenient  and 
promising  occasion. 

In  1852  Sir  George  Bonham  returned  to  England  on  leave, 
and  his  place  was  taken  by  Dr.  John  Bowring,  who  had  offi- 
ciated for  a  short  period  as  consul  at  Canton.  His  instruc- 
tions were  of  a  simple  and  positive  character.  They  were 
"to  avoid  all  irritating  discussions  with  the  authorities  of 
China."  He  was  also  directed  to  avoid  pushing  arguments 
on  doubtful  points  in  a  manner  that  would  fetter  the  free 
action  of  the  government ;  but  he  was,  at  the  same  time,  to 
recollect  that  it  was  his  duty  to  carefully  watch  over  and 
insist  upon  the  performance  by  the  Chinese  authorities  of 
their  engagements.  The  proper  fulfillment  of  the  latter  duty 
necessarily  involved  some  infringement  of  the  former  rec- 
ommendation ;  and  while  the  paramount  consideration  with 
the  Foreign  Office  was  to  keep  things  quiet,  it  was  natural 


THE  SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  341 

that  the  official  on  the  spot  should  think  a  great  deal,  if  not 
altogether,  of  hovr  best  to  obtain  compliance  to  the  fullest 
extent  with  the  pledges  given  in  the  treaty  and  the  subse- 
quent conventions.  Dr.  Bowring  was  not  an  official  to  be 
deterred  from  expressing  his  opinions  by  fear  of  headquar- 
ters. He  sent  home  his  view  of  the  situation,  expressed  in 
very  clear  and  intelligible  language.  "The  Pottinger  treat- 
ies," he  said,  "inflicted  a  deep  wound  upon  the  pride,  but  by 
no  means  altered  the  policy,  of  the  Chinese  government.  .  .  . 
Their  purpose  is  now,  as  it  ever  was,  not  to  invite,  not  to 
facilitate,  but  to  impede  and  resist  the  access  of  foreigners. 
It  must,  then,  ever  be  borne  in  mind,  in  considering  the  state 
of  our  relations  with  these  regions,  that  the  two  governments 
have  objects  at  heart  which  are  diametrically  opposed,  except 
in  so  far  that  both  earnestly  desire  to  avoid  all  hostile  action, 
and  to  make  its  own  policy,  as  far  as  possible,  subordinate 
to  that  desire."  At  this  point  a  Liberal  administration  gave 
place  to  a  Conservative;  but  Lord  Malmesbury  reiterated  in 
stronger  language  the  instructions  of  Lord  Granville.  "  All 
irritating  discussions  with  the  Chinese  should  be  avoided, 
and  the  existing  good  understanding  must  in  no  way  be  im- 
periled." One  of  Dr.  Bowring's  first  acts  was  to  write  a 
letter  to  the  viceroy  expressing  a  desire  for  an  interview, 
with  the  object  of  suggesting  a  settlement  of  pending  diffi- 
culties ;  but  the  viceroy  made  his  excuses.  The  meeting  did 
not  take  place,  and  the  whole  question  remained  dormant 
for  two  years,  by  which  time  not  only  had  Sir  John  Bow- 
ring  been  knighted  and  confirmed  in  the  post  of  governor, 
but  the  viceroy  had  been  superseded  by  the  subsequently 
notorious  Commissioner  Yeh.  Up  to  this  point  all  Sir  John 
Bowring's  suggestions  with  regard  to  the  settlement  of  the 
questions  pending  with  the  Chinese  had  been  received  with 
the  official  reply  that  he  was  to  abstain  from  all  action,  and 
that  he  was  not  to  press  himself  on  the  Canton  authorities. 
But,  m  the  beginning  of  1854,  his  instructions  were  so  far 
modified  that  Lord  Clarendon  wrote  admitting  the  desira- 
bility of  "free  and  unrestricted  intercourse  with  the  Chinese 


342  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHH1A. 

officials,"  and  of  "admission  into  some  of  the  cities  of  China, 
especially  Canton." 

Encouraged  by  these  admissions  in  favor  of  the  views  he 
had  been  advancing  for  some  time,  Sir  John  Bowring  wrote 
an  official  letter  to  Commissioner  Yeh  inviting  him  to  an 
early  interview,  but  stating  that  the  interview  must  be  held 
within  the  city  of  Canton  at  the  viceroy's  yamen.  It  will  be 
noted  that  what  Sir  John  asked  fell  short  of  what  Keying 
had  promised.  The  opening  of  the  gates  of  Canton  was  to 
have  been  to  all  Englishmen,  but  the  English  government 
would  at  this  point  have  been  satisfied  if  its  representative 
had  been  granted  admission  for  the  purpose  of  direct  nego- 
tiation with  the  Chinese  authorities.  To  the  plain  question 
put  to  him  Yeh  returned  an  evasive  answer.  All  his  time 
was  taken  up  with  the  military  affairs  of  the  province,  and 
he  absolutely  ignored  the  proposal  for  holding  an  interview 
within  the  city.  The  matter  had  gone  too  far  to  be  put  on 
one  side  in  this  manner,  and  Sir  John  Bowring  sent  his  sec- 
retary to  overcome,  if  possible,  the  repugnance  of  Commis- 
sioner Yeh  to  the  interview,  and  in  any  case  to  gain  some 
information  as  to  his  objections.  As  the  secretary  could  only 
see  mandarins  of  very  inferior  rank  he  returned  to  Hong- 
kong without  acquiring  any  very  definite  information,  but  he 
learned  enough  to  say  that  Yeh  denied  that  Keying's  arrange- 
ment possessed  any  validity.  The  Chinese  case  was  that  it 
had  been  allowed  to  drop  on  both  sides,  and  the  utmost  con- 
cession Yeh  would  make  was  to  agree  to  an  interview  at  the 
Jinsin  Packhouse  outside  the  city  walls.  This  proposition 
was  declared  to  be  inadmissible,  when  Yeh  ironically  re- 
marked that  he  must  consequently  assume  that  "Sir  John 
Bowring  did  not  wish  for  an  interview."  It  was  hoped  to 
overcome  Chinese  finesse  with  counter  finesse,  and  Sir  John 
Bowring  hastened  to  Shanghai  with  the  object  of  establish- 
ing direct  relations  with  the  viceroy  of  the  Two  Kiang. 
After  complaining  of  the  want  of  courtesy  evinced  by  Yeh 
throughout  his  correspondence,  he  expressed  the  wish  to 
negotiate  with  any  of  the  other  high  officials  of  the  empire. 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  343 

The  reply  of  Eleang,  who  held  this  post,  and  who  was  be- 
lieved to  be  well  disposed  to  Europeans,  did  not  advance 
matters.  He  had  no  authority,  he  said,  in  the  matter,  and 
could  not  interfere  in  what  was  not  his  concern.  Commis- 
sioner Yeh  was  the  official  appointed  by  the  emperor  to  con- 
duct relations  with  the  foreigners,  and  no  other  official  could 
assume  his  functions.  Sir  John  Bowring  therefore  returned 
to  Hongkong  without  having  effected  anything  by  his  visit 
to  Shanghai,  but  at  this  moment  the  advance  of  the  rebels 
to  the  neighborhood  of  Canton  seemed  likely  to  effect  a 
diversion  that  might  have  important  consequences.  In  a 
state  of  apprehension  as  to  the  safety  of  the  town,  Yeh  ap- 
piled  to  Sir  John  Bowring  for  assistance  against  the  rebels, 
but  this  could  not  be  granted,  and  Sir  John  Bowring  only 
proceeded  to  Canton  to  superintend  the  preparations  made 
for  the  defense  of  the  English  settlement  at  that  place.  All 
the  consuls  issued  a  joint  proclamation  declaring  their  inten- 
tion to  remain  neutral.  The  prompt  suppression  of  the  re- 
bellion, so  far  as  any  danger  to  Canton  went,  restored  the 
confidence  of  the  Chinese  authorities,  and  they  reverted  to 
their  old  position  on  the  question  of  the  opening  of  the  gates 
of  Canton. 

In  June,  1855,  Sir  John  Bowring  returned  to  the  subject 
of  official  interviews,  and  made  an  explicit  demand  for  the 
reception  if  not  of  himself,  then  at  least  of  the  consul  at 
Canton.  Yeh  took  his  time  before  he  made  any  reply,  and 
when  he  did  send  one  it  was  to  the  effect  that  there  was  no 
precedent  for  an  interview  with  a  consul,  and  that  as  Sir 
John  had  refused  to  meet  him  outside  the  city  there  was  an 
end  of  the  matter.  Mr.  Harry  Parkes  succeeded  Mr.  Alcock 
as  consul  at  Canton,  and  no  inconsiderable  amount  of  tact 
was  required  to  carry  on  relations  with  officials  who  refused 
to  show  themselves.  But  the  evil  day  of  open  collision  could 
not  be  averted,  and  the  antagonism  caused  by  clashing  views 
and  interests  at  last  broke  forth  on  a  point  which  would  have 
been  promptly  settled,  had  there  been  direct  intercourse  be 
tween  the  English  and  Chinese  officials. 


344  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

On  October  8,  1856,  Mr.  Parkes  reported  to  Sir  John 
Bowring  at  Hongkong  the  particulars  of  an  affair  which 
had  occurred  on  a  British-owned  lorcha  at  Canton.  The 
lorcha  "Arrow,"  employed  in  the  iron  trade  between  Can- 
ton and  the  mouth  of  the  river,  commanded  by  an  English 
captain,  and  flying  the  English  flag,  had  been  boarded  by  a 
party  of  mandarins  and  their  followers  while  at  anchor  near 
the  Dutch  Folly.  The  lorcha — a  Portuguese  name  for  a  fast 
sailing  boat — had  be  m  duly  registered  in  the  office  at  Hong- 
kong, and  although  not  entitled  at  that  precise  moment  to 
British  protection,  through  the  careless  neglect  to  renew  the 
license,  this  fact  was  only  discovered  subsequently,  and  was 
not  put  forward  by  the  Chinese  in  justification  of  their  action. 
The  gravity  of  the  affair  was  increased  by  the  fact  that  the 
English  flag  was  conspicuously  displayed,  and  that,  notwith- 
standing the  remonstrances  of  the  master,  it  was  ostenta- 
tiously hauled  down.  The  crew  were  carried  off  prisoners 
with  the  exception  of  two  men,  left  at  their  own  request  to 
take  charge  of  the  vessel.  Mr.  Parkes  at  once  sent  a  letter 
to  Yeh  on  the  subject  of  this  "very  grave  insult,"  request- 
ing that  the  captured  crew  of  the  "Arrow"  should  be  re- 
turned to  that  vessel  without  delay,  and  that  any  charges 
made  against  them  should  be  then  examined  into  at  the  En- 
glish consulate.  In  his  reply  Commissioner  Yeh  justified 
and  upheld  the  act  of  his  subordinates.  Of  the  twelve  men 
seized,  he  returned  nine,  but  with  regard  to  the  three  whom 
he  detained,  he  declared  one  to  be  a  criminal,  and  the  others 
important  witnesses.  Not  merely  would  he  not  release  them, 
but  he  proceeded  to  justify  their  apprehension,  while  he  did 
not  condescend  to  so  much  as  notice  the  points  of  the  insult 
to  the  English  flag,  and  of  his  having  violated  treaty  obliga- 
tions. Yeh  did  not  attempt  to  offer  any  excuse  for  the  pro- 
<seedings  taken  in  his  name.  He  asserted  certain  things  as 
facts  which,  in  his  opinion,  it  was  sufficient  for  him  to  accept 
that  they  should  pass  current.  But  the  evidence  on  which 
they  were  based  was  not  sufficient  to  obtain  credence  in  the 
laxest  court  of  justice;  but  even  if  it  had  been  conclusive  it 


THE  SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  345 

would  not  have  justified  the  removal  of  the  crew  from  the 
"Arrow"  when  the  British  flag  was  flying  conspicuously  at 
her  mast.  What,  in  brief,  was  the  Chinese  case?  It  wa3 
that  one  of  the  crew  had  been  recognized  by  a  man  passing 
in  a  boat  as  one  of  a  band  of  pirates  who  had  attacked,  ill- 
used,  and  plundered  him  several  weeks  before.  He  had 
forthwith  gone  to  the  Taotai  of  Canton,  presented  a  demand 
for  redress,  and  that  officer  had  at  once  given  the  order  for 
the  arrest  of  the  offender,  with  the  result  described.  There 
is  no  necessity  to  impugn  the  veracity  of  the  Chinaman's 
story,  but  it  did  not  justify  the  breach  of  "the  ex-territorial 
rights  of  preliminary  consular  investigation  before  trial" 
granted  to  all  under  the  protection  of  the  English  flag.  The 
plea  of  delay  did  not  possess  any  force  either,  for  the  man 
could  have  been  arrested  just  as  well  by  the  English  consul 
as  by  the  mandarins,  but  it  would  have  involved  a  damag- 
ing admission  of  European  authority  in  the  matter  of  a 
Chinese  subject,  and  the  mandarins  thought  there  was  no 
necessity  to  curtail  their  claim  to  jurisdiction.  Commis- 
sioner Yeh  did  not  attempt  any  excuses,  and  he  even  de- 
clared that  "the  'Arrow'  is  not  a  foreign  lorcha,  and,  there- 
fore," he  said,  "there  is  no  use  to  enter  into  any  discussion 
about  her." 

The  question  of  the  nationality  of  the  "Arrow"  was 
complicated  by  the  fact  that  its  registry  had  expired  ten 
days  before  its  seizure.  The  master  explained  that  this 
omission  was  due  to  the  vessel  having  been  at  sea,  and 
that  it  was  to  have  been  rectified  as  soon  as  he  returned 
to  Hongkong.  As  Lord  Clarendon  pointed  out.  this  fact 
was  not  merely  unknown  to  the  Chinese,  but  it  was  also 
"a  matter  of  British  regulation  which  would  not  justify 
seizure  by  the  Chinese.  No  British  lorcha  would  be  safe 
if  her  crew  were  liable  to  seizure  on  these  grounds."  The 
history  of  the  lorcha  "Arrow"  was  officially  proved  to  be 
as  follows:  "The  'Arrow'  was  heretofore  employed  in  trad- 
ing  on  the  coast,  and  while  so  employed  was  taken  by 
pirates.     By  them  she  was  fitted  out  and  employed  on  the 


343  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

Canton  River  during  the  disturbances  between  the  impe- 
rialists and  the  insurgents.  While  on  this  service  she  was 
captured  by  the  braves  of  one  of  the  loyalist  associations 
organized  by  the  mandarins  for  the  support  of  the  govern- 
ment. By  this  association  she  was  publicly  sold,  and  was 
purchased  by  a  Chin-chew  Hong,  a  respectable  firm  at  Can- 
ton, which  also  laid  out  a  considerable  sum  in  repairing  her 
and  otherwise  fitting  her  out.  She  arrived  at  Hongkong 
about  the  month  of  June,  1855,  at  which  time  a  treaty  was 
on  foot  (which  ended  in  a  bargain)  between  Fong  Aming, 
Messrs.  T.  Burd  &  Co.'s  comprador,  and  Lei-yeong-heen, 
one  of  the  partners  m  the  Chin-chew  Hong,  for  the  purchase 
of  the  lorcha  by  the  former.  Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the 
vessel  at  Hongkong  she  was  claimed  by  one  Quantai,  of 
Macao,  who  asserted  that  she  had  been  his  property  before 
she  was  seized  by  the  pirates.  Of  course,  the  then  owner 
disputed  his  claim;  upon  which  he  commenced  a  suit  in  the 
Vice- Admiralty  Court.  After  a  short  time,  by  consent  of  the 
parties,  the  question  was  referred  to  arbitration,  but  the  arbi- 
trators could  not  agree  and  an  umpire  was  appointed,  who 
awarded  that  the  ownership  of  the  lorcha  should  continue 
undisturbed.  The  ownership  of  the  vessel  was  then  trans- 
ferred to  Fong  Aming,  and  in  his  name  she  is  registered. 
These  are  the  simple  facts  connected  with  the  purchase  of 
the  lorcha  by  a  resident  of  the  colony  at  Hongkong  and  her 
registry  as  a  British  vessel,  and  it  is  from  these  facts  that 
the  Imperial  Commissioner  Yeh  has  arrived  at  an  erroneous 
conclusion  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  boat."  As  the  first 
step  toward  obtaining  the  necessary  reparation,  a  junk, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  an  imperial  war  vessel,  was 
seized  as  a  hostage,  and  Mr.  Parkes  addressed  another 
letter  to  Teh  reminding  him  that  "the  matter  which  has 
compelled  this  menace  still  remains  unsettled." 

Had  there  been  that  convenient  mode  of  communication 
between  the  governor  of  Hongkong  and  the  Chinese  officials 
at  Canton  which  was  provided  for  by  the  Nankin  Treaty 
and    the  Keying  Convention,   the  "Arrow"   complication 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  34? 

would,  in  all  probability,  never  have  arisen,  and  it  is  also 
scarcely  less  certain  that  it  would  not  have  produced  such 
serious  consequences  as  it  did  but  for  the  arrogance  of  Yeh. 
He  even  attempted  to  deny  that  the  "Arrow"  carried  the 
English  flag,  but  this  was  so  clearly  proved  to  be  a  fact  by 
both  English  and  Chinese  witnesses  that  it  ceased  to  hold  a 
place  in  the  Chinese  case.  As  it  was  clear  that  Commis- 
sioner Yeh  would  not  give  way,  and  as  delay  would  only 
encourage  him,  the  admiral  on  the  station,  Sir  Michael  Sey- 
mour, received  instructions  to  attack  the  four  forts  of  the 
Barrier,  and  he  captured  them  without  loss.  Thus,  after  an 
interval  of  fourteen  years,  was  the  first  blow  struck  in  what 
may  be  called  the  third  act  of  Anglo-Chinese  relations,  but 
it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  "Arrow"  case  was 
the  sole  cause  of  this  appeal  to  arms.  A  blue  book,  bearing 
the  significant  title  of  "Insults  to  Foreigners,"  gives  a  list 
and  narrative  of  the  many  outrages  and  indignities  inflicted 
on  Europeans  between  1842  and  1856.  The  evidence  con- 
tained therein  justifies  the  statement  that  the  position  of 
Europeans  in  China  had  again  become  most  unsafe  and 
intolerable.  Those  who  persist  in  regarding  the  "Arrow" 
affair  as  the  only  cause  of  the  war  may  delude  themselves 
into  believing  that  the  Chinese  were  not  the  most  blame- 
worthy parties  in  the  quarrel;  but  no  one  who  seeks  the 
truth  and  reads  all  the  evidence  will  doubt  that  if  there  had 
been  no  "Arrow"  case  there  would  still  have  been  a  rupture 
between  the  two  countries.  The  Chinese  officials,  headed  by 
Yeh,  had  fully  persuaded  themselves  that,  as  the  English 
had  put  up  with  so  much,  and  had  acquiesced  in  the  con- 
tinued closing  of  the  gates  of  Canton,  they  were  not  likely 
to  make  the  "Arrow"  affair  a  casus  belli.  Even  the  cap- 
ture  of  the  Barrier  forts  did  not  bring  home  to  their  minds 
the  gravity  of  the  situation. 

After  dismantling  these  forts,  Sir  Michael  Seymour  pro- 
ceeded up  the  river,  capturing  the  fort  in  Macao  Passage, 
and  arriving  before  Canton  on   the   same  day.     An   ulti 
matum  was  at  once  addressed  to  Yeh,  stating  that  unless 


348  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

he  at  once  complied  with  all  the  English  demands  the 
admiral  would  "proceed  with  the  destruction  of  all  the  de- 
fenses and  public  buildings  of  this  city  and  of  the  govern- 
ment vessels  in  the  river."  This  threat  brought  no  satisfac- 
tory answer,  and  the  Canton  forts  were  seized,  their  guns 
spiked  and  the  men-of-war  placed  with  their  broadsides 
opposite  the  city.  Then  Yeh,  far  from  being  cowed,  uttered 
louder  defiance  than  ever.  He  incited  the  population  to 
make  a  stubborn  resistance;  he  placed  a  reward  of  thirty 
dollars  on  the  head  of  every  Englishman  slain  or  captured, 
and  he  publicly  proclaimed  that  there  was  no  alternative  but 
war.  He  seems  to  have  been  driven  to  these  extremities  by 
a  fear  for  his  own  personal  safety  and  official  position.  He 
had  no  warrant  from  his  imperial  master  to  commit  China 
to  such  a  dangerous  course  as  another  war  with  the  English, 
and  he  knew  that  the  only  way  to  vindicate  his  proceedings 
was  to  obtain  some  success  gratifying  to  national  vanity. 
While  Yeh  was  counting  on  the  support  of  the  people,  the 
English  admiral  began  the  bombardment  of  the  city,  direct- 
ing his  fire  principally  against  Yen's  yamen  and  a  part  of 
the  wall,  which  was  breached  in  two  days.  After  some  re- 
sistance the  breach  was  carried;  a  gate  was  occupied,  and 
Sir  Michael  Seymour  and  Mr.  Parkes  proceeded  to  the 
yamen  of  the  viceroy,  but  as  it  was  thought  dangerous 
to  occupy  so  large  a  city  with  so  small  a  force  the  posi- 
tions seized  were  abandoned,  although  still  commanded  by 
the  fire  of  the  fleet.  After  a  few  days'  rest  active  opera- 
tions were  resumed  against  the  French  Folly  fort  and  a 
large  fleet  of  war  junks  which  had  collected  up  the  river. 
After  a  warm  engagement  the  vessels  were  destroyed  and 
the  fort  captured.  Undaunted  by  these  successive  reverses, 
Yeh  still  breathed  nothing  but  defiance,  and  refused  to  make 
the  least  concession.  There  remained  no  alternative  but  to 
prosecute  hostilities  with  renewed  vigor.  On  the  12th  and 
13th  of  November,  Sir  Michael  attacked  the  Bogue  forts  on 
both  sides  of  the  river  and  captured  them  with  little  loss. 
These  forts  mounted  400  guns,  but  only  contained  1,000  men. 


THE  SECOND   FOREIGN   WAR.  349 

Notwithstanding  these  continuous  reverses,  the  Chinese 
remained  defiant  and  energetic.  As  soon  as  the  English 
admiral  left  Canton  to  attack  the  Bogue  forts  the  Chinese 
hastened  to  re-occupy  all  their  positions  and  to  repair  the 
breaches.  They  succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  and  thus  de- 
stroying the  whole  foreign  settlement,  and  they  carried  off 
several  Europeans,  all  of  whom  were  put  to  death  and  some 
of  them  tortured.  The  heads  of  these  Europeans  treach- 
erously seized  and  barbarously  murdered  were  paraded 
throughout  the  villages  of  Kwangtung,  in  order  to  stimu- 
late recruiting  and  to  raise  national  enthusiasm  to  a  high 
pitch.  Notwithstanding  their  reverses  whenever  it  became 
a  question  of  open  fighting,  the  Chinese,  by  their  obstinacy 
and  numbers,  at  last  succeeded  in  convincing  Sir  Michael 
Seymour  that  his  force  was  too  small  to  achieve  any  decis- 
ive result,  and  he  accordingly  withdrew  from  his  positions 
in  front  of  the  city,  and  sent  home  a  request  for  a  force  of 
5,000  troops.  Meantime  the  Chinese  were  much  encouraged 
by  the  lull  in  hostilities,  and  for  the  time  being  Yeh  himself 
was  not  dissatisfied  with  the  result.  The  Cantonese  saw  in 
the  destruction  of  the  foreign  settlement  and  the  withdrawal 
of  the  English  fleet  some  promise  of  future  victory,  and  at 
all  events  sufficient  reason  for  the  continued  confidence  of 
the  patriot  Yeh.  Curiously  enough,  there  was  peace  and 
ostensible  goodwill  along  the  coast  and  at  the  other  treaty 
ports,  while  war  and  national  animosity  were  in  the  ascend- 
ant at  Canton.  The  governor-generals  of  the  Two  Kiang 
and  Fuhkien  declared  over  and  over  again  that  they  wished 
t»  abide  by  the  Treaty  of  Nankin,  and  they  threw  upon  Yeh 
the  responsibility  of  his  acts.  Even  Hienfung  refrained 
from  showing  any  unequivocal  support  of  his  truculent 
lieutenant,  although  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  im- 
pressed by  the  reports  of  many  victories  over  the  English 
barbarians  with  which  Yeh  supplied  him.  As  long  as  Yeh 
was  able  to  keep  the  quarrel  a  local  one,  and  to  thus  shield 
the  central  government  from  any  sense  of  personal  danger, 
he  enjoyed  the  good  wishes,  if  not  the  active  support,  of 


350  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

his  sovereign.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  success  of  his 
schemes,  only  the  most  energetic  support  of  the  Pekin  gov- 
ernment in  money  and  men  could  have  enabled  him  to  hold 
his  own ;  and  as  he  did  nothing  but  report  victories  in  order 
to  gain  a  hearing  for  his  policy,  he  could  not  grumble  when 
he  was  not  sent  the  material  aid  of  which  he  stood  most  in 
need.  His  unreasonable  action  had  done  much  to  unite  all 
foreign  nations  against  China.  French,  American  and  Span  - 
ish  subjects  had  been  the  victims  of  Chinese  ignorance  and 
cruelty,  as  well  as  English,  and  they  all  saw  that  the  success 
of  Yeh's  policy  would  render  their  position  untenable. 

On  the  receipt  of  Sir  Michael  Seymour's  request  for  a 
force  of  5,000  men,  it  was  at  once  perceived  in  London  that 
the  question  of  our  relations  with  China  had  again  entered 
a  most  important  and  critical  phase.  It  was  at  once  decided 
to  send  the  force  for  which  the  admiral  asked ;  and,  while 
1,500  men  were  sent  from  England  and  a  regiment  from  the 
Mauritius,  the  remainder  was  to  be  drawn  from  the  Madras 
army.  At  the  same  time  it  was  considered  necessar}'  to  send 
an  embassador  of  high  rank  to  acquaint  the  Pekin  authori- 
ties that,  while  such  acts  as  those  of  Yeh  would  not  be  toler- 
ated, there  was  no  desire  to  press  too  harshly  on  a  country 
which  was  only  gradually  shaking  oflf  its  exclusive  preju- 
dices. Lord  Elgin  was  selected  for  the  difficult  mission,  and 
his  instructions  contained  the  following  five  categorical  de- 
mands, the  fourth  of  which  was  the  most  important  in  its 
consequences : 

Those  instructions  were  conveyed  in  two  dispatches  of 
the  same  date,  April  20,  1857.  "We  quote  the  following  as 
the  more  important  passages:  "The  demands  which  you  are 
instructed  to  make  will  be  (1),  for  reparation  of  injuries  to 
British  subjects,  and,  if  the  French  officers  should  co-operate 
with  you,  for  those  to  French  subjects  also ;  (2)  for  the  com- 
plete execution  at  Canton,  as  well  as  at  the  other  ports,  of 
the  stipulations  of  the  several  treaties;  (3)  compensation  to 
British  subjects  and  persons  entitled  to  British  protection  for 
losses  incurred  in  consequence  of  the  late  disturbances ;  (4) 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  351 

the  assent  of  the  Chinese  government  to  the  residence  at 
Pekin,  or  to  the  occasional  visit  to  that  capital,  at  the  option 
of  the  British  government,  of  a  minister  duly  accredited  by 
the  queen  to  the  emperor  of  China,  and  the  recognition 
of  the  right  of  the  British  plenipotentiary  and  chief  super- 
intendent of  trade  to  communicate  directly  in  writing  with 
the  high  officers  at  the  Chinese  capital,  and  to  send  his  com- 
munications by  messengers  of  his  own  selection,  such  ar- 
rangements  affording  the  best  means  of  insuring  the  due 
execution  of  the  existing  treaties,  and  of  preventing  future 
misunderstandings;  (5)  a  revision  of  the  treaties  with  China 
with  a  view  to  obtaining  increased  facilities  for  commerce, 
such  as  access  to  cities  on  the  great  rivers  as  well  as  to 
Chapoo  and  to  other  ports  on  the  coast,  and  also  permission 
for  Chinese  vessels  to  resort  to  Hongkong  for  purposes  of 
trade  from  all  ports  of  the  Chinese  empire  without  distinc- 
tion." These  were  the  demands  formulated  by  the  English 
government  for  the  consent  of  China,  and  seven  proposals 
were  made  as  to  how  they  were  to  be  obtained  should  coer- 
cion become  necessary.  It  was  also  stated  that  "it  is  not 
the  intention  of  her  Majesty's  government  to  undertake  any 
land  operations  in  the  interior  of  the  country." 

An  event  of  superior,  and,  indeed,  supreme  importance 
occurred  to  arrest  the  movement  of  the  expedition  to  Canton. 
When  Lord  Elgin  reached  Singapore,  on  June  3,  1857,  he 
found  a  letter  waiting  for  him  from  Lord  Canning,  then 
Governor-general  of  India,  informing  him  of  the  outbreak  of 
the  Indian  Mutiny,  and  imploring  him  to  send  all  his  troops 
to  Calcutta  in  order  to  avert  the  overthrow  of  our  authority 
in  the  valley  of  the  Ganges,  where,  "for  a  length  of  750 
miles,  there  were  barely  1,000  European  soldiers."  To  such 
an  urgent  appeal  there  could  only  be  one  answer,  and  the 
men  who  were  to  have  chastised  Commissioner  Yeh  followed 
Havelock  to  Cawnpore  and  Lucknow.  But  while  Lord  Elgin 
sent  his  main  force  to  Calcutta,  he  himself  proceeded  to 
Hongkong,  where  he  arrived  in  the  first  week  of  July,  and 
found  that  hostilities  had  proceeded  to  a  still  more  advanced 


352  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

stage  than  when  Sir  Michael  Seymour  wrote  for  re-enforce- 
ments. The  Chinese  had  become  so  confident  during  the 
winter  that  that  officer  felt  bound  to  resume  offensive  meas- 
ures against  them,  and  having  been  joined  by  a  few  more 
men-of-war,  and  having  also  armed  some  merchant  ships 
of  light  draught,  he  attacked  a  main  portion  of  the  Chinese 
fleet  occupying  a  very  strong  position  in  Escape  Creek.  The 
attack  was  intrusted  to  Commodore  Elliott,  who,  with  five 
gunboats  and  the  galleys  of  the  larger  men-of-war,  carried 
out  with  complete  success  and  little  loss  the  orders  of  his 
superior  officer.  Twenty-seven  armed  junks  were  destroyed, 
and  the  thirteen  that  escaped  were  burned  the  next  day. 
It  was  then  determined  to  follow  up  this  success  by  attack- 
ing the  headquarters  of  Yen's  army  at  Fatshan,  the  place 
already  referred  to  as  being  some  distance  from  Canton. 
By  road  it  is  six  and  by  water  twelve  miles  from  that  city. 
The  remainder  of  the  Chinese  fleet  was  drawn  up  in  Fatshan 
Channel,  and  the  Chinese  had  made  such  extensive  prepara- 
tions for  its  defense,  both  on  land  and  on  the  river,  that  they 
were  convinced  of  the  impregnability  of  its  position. 

The  Chinese  position  was  unusually  strong,  and  had  been 
selected  with  considerable  judgment.  An  island  named  after 
the  hyacinth  lies  in  midstream  two  miles  from  the  entrance 
to  the  Fatshan  Channel,  which  joins  the  main  course  of  the 
Sikiang  a  few  miles  above  the  town  of  that  name.  The 
island  is  flat  and  presents  no  special  advantages  for  defense, 
but  it  enabled  the  Chinese  to  draw  up  a  line  of  junks  across 
the  two  channels  of  the  river,  and  to  place  on  it  a  battery  of 
six  guns,  thus  connecting  their  two  squadrons.  The  seventy- 
two  junks  were  drawn  up  with  their  sterns  facing  down 
stream,  and  their  largest  gun  bearing  on  any  assailant  pro- 
ceeding up  it.  On  the  left  bank  of  the  river  an  elevated  and 
precipitous  hill  had  been  occupied  in  force  and  crowned  with 
a  battery  of  nineteen  guns,  and  other  batteries  had  been 
erected  at  different  points  along  the  river.  There  seems  no 
reason  to  question  the  accuracy  of  the  estimate  that  more 
than  300  pieces  of  artillery  and  10,000  men  were  holding  this 


THE   SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  353 

position,  which  had  been  admirably  chosen  and  carefully 
strengthened.  The  force  which  Sir  Michael  Seymour  had 
available  to  attack  this  formidable  position  slightly  exceeded 
2,000  men,  conveyed  to  the  attack  in  six  gunboats  and  a 
large  flotilla  of  boats.  The  English  advance  was  soon  known 
to  the  Chinese,  who  began  firing  from  their  junks  and  bat- 
teries as  soon  as  they  came  within  range.  Three  hundred 
marines  were  landed  to  attack  the  battery  on  the  hill,  which 
was  found  not  to  be  so  strong  as  it  appeared;  for  on  the 
most  precipitous  side  the  Chinese,  believing  it  to  be  unscal- 
able, had  placed  no  guns,  and  those  in  position  could  not  be 
moved  to  bear  on  the  assailants  in  that  quarter.  The  ma- 
rines gained  the  top  with  scarcely  any  loss,  and  as  they 
charged  over  the  side  the  Chinese  retired  with  little  loss, 
owing  to  the  ill-directed  fire  of  the  marines. 

Meantime  the  sailors  had  attacked  the  Chinese  position 
on  the  river.  The  tide  was  at  low  water,  and  the  Chinese 
had  barred  the  channel  with  a  row  of  sunken  junks,  leaving 
a  narrow  passage  known  only  to  themselves.  The  leading 
English  boat  struck  on  the  hidden  barrier,  but  the  passage 
being  discovered  the  other  vessels  got  through.  Those  boats 
which  ran  aground  were  gradually  floated,  one  after  the 
other,  by  the  rising  tide,  and  at  last  the  flotilla,  with  little 
damage,  reached  the  line  of  stakes  which  the  Chinese  had 
placed  to  mark  the  range  of  the  guns  in  their  junks.  At 
once  the  fire  from  the  seventy-two  junks  and  the  battery  on 
Hyacinth  Island  became  so  furious  and  well-directed  that 
it  was  a  matter  of  astonishment  how  the  English  boats 
passed  through  it.  They  reached  and  pierced  the  line  of 
junks,  of  which  one  after  another  was  given  to  the  flames. 
Much  of  the  success  of  the  attack  was  due  to  the  heroic 
example  of  Commodore  Harry  Keppel,  who  led  the  advance 
party  of  500  cutlasses,  and  who  gave  the  Chinese  no  time  to 
rest  or  rally.  Having  broken  the  line  of  junks,  he  took 
up  the  pursuit  in  his  seven  boats,  having  determined  that 
the  only  proof  of  success  could  be  the  capture  of  Fatshan, 
and  after  four  miles*  hard  rowing  he  came  in  sight  of  the 


354:  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

elaborate  defenses  drawn  up  by  the  Chinese  for  the  security 
of  that  place.  At  the  short  range  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  the 
fire  of  the  Chinese  guns  was  tremendous  and  destructive. 
KeppePs  own  boat  was  reduced  to  a  sinking  state,  and  had 
to  be  abandoned.  Some  of  his  principal  officers  were  killed, 
three  of  his  boats  ran  aground,  and  things  looked  black  for 
the  small  English  force.  At  this  critical  moment,  the  Chi- 
nese, thinking  that  they  had  checked  the  English  attack, 
and  hearing  of  the  magnitude  of  their  reverse  down  stream, 
thought  their  best  course  would  be  to  retire.  Then  the  few 
English  boats  resumed  the  attack,  and  hung  on  to  the 
retreating  junks  like  bull-dogs.  Many  junks  were  given 
to  the  flames,  and  five  were  carried  off  under  the  teeth  of 
the  Fatshan  populace;  but  Keppel's  force  was  too  small 
to  hold  that  town  and  put  it  to  the  ransom,  so  the  worn-out, 
but  still  enthusiastic  force,  retired  to  join  the  main  body 
under  Sir  Michael  Seymour,  who  was  satisfied  that  he  had 
achieved  all  that  was  necessary  or  prudent  with  his  squad- 
ron. In  these  encounters  thirteen  men  were  killed  and 
forty  wounded,  of  whom  several  succumbed  to  their  wounds, 
for  it  was  noticed  that  the  Chinese  shot  inflicted  cruel  in- 
juries. The  destruction  of  the  Chinese  fleet  on  the  Canton 
River  could  not  be  considered  heavily  purchased  at  the  cost, 
and  the  extent  of  the  trepidation  caused  by  Commodore 
Keppel's  intrepidity  could  not  be  accurately  measured. 

Lord  Elgin  reached  Hongkong  very  soon  after  this  event, 
and,  although  he  brought  no  soldiers  with  him,  he  found 
English  opinion  at  Hongkong  very  pronounced  in  favor  of 
an  attack  on  Canton  with  a  view  of  re-opening  that  city 
to  trade.  But  the  necessary  force  was  not  available,  and 
Lord  Elgin  refused  to  commit  himself  to  this  risky  course. 
Sir  Michael  Seymour  said  the  attack  would  require  5,000 
troops,  and  General  Ashburnham  thought  it  could  be  done 
with  4,000  men  if  all  were  effective,  while  the  whole  Hong- 
kong garrison  numbered  only  1,500,  and  of  these  one-sixth 
were  invalided.  Lord  Elgin  decided  to  go  to  Calcutta,  and 
ascertain  when  Lord  Canning  would  be  able  to  spare  him 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  355 

the  troops  necessary  to  bring  China  to  reason.  He  returned 
to  Hongkong  on  September  20,  and  he  found  matters  very- 
much  as  he  had  left  them,  and  all  the  English  force  was 
capable  of  was  to  blockade  the  river.  To  supplement  the 
weakness  of  the  garrison  a  coolie  corps  of  750  Chinese  was 
organized,  and  proved  very  efficient,  and  toward  the  end  of 
November  troops,  chiefly  marines,  began  at  last  to  arrive 
from  England.  A  fleet  of  useful  gunboats  of  small  draught, 
under  Captain  Sherard  Osborn,  arrived  for  the  purpose  of 
operating  against  the  junks  in  shallow  creeks  and  rivers. 
At  the  same  time,  too,  came  the  French  embassador,  Baron 
Gros,  charged  with  a  similar  mission  to  Lord  Elgin,  and 
bent  on  proving  once  for  all  that  the  pretensions  of  China  to 
superiority  over  other  nations  were  absurd  and  untenable. 

On  December  12  Lord  Elgin  sent  Yeh  a  note  apprising 
him  of  his  arrival  as  plenipotentiary  from  Queen  Victoria, 
and  pointing  out  the  repeated  insults  and  injuries  inflicted 
on  Englishmen,  culminating  in  the  outrage  to  their  flag  and 
the  repeated  refusal  to  grant  any  reparation  for  their  wrongs. 
But  Lord  Elgin  went  on  to  say  that  even  at  this  eleventh 
hour  there  was  time  to  stay  the  progress  of  hostilities  bjT 
making  prompt  redress.  The  terms  were  plain  and  simple, 
and  the  English  demands  were  confined  to  two  points — the 
complete  execution  at  Canton  of  all  treaty  engagements, 
including  the  free  admission  of  British  subjects  to  the  city, 
and  compensation  to  British  subjects  and  persons  entitled 
to  British  protection  for  losses  incurred  in  consequence  of 
the  late  disturbances.  To  this  categorical  demand  Yeh 
made  a  long  reply,  going  over  the  ground  of  controversy, 
reasserting  what  he  wished  to  believe  were  the  facts,  and 
curtly  concluding  that  the  trade  might  continue  on  the  old 
conditions,  and  that  each  side  should  pay  its  own  losses. 
Mr.  Wade  said  that  his  language  might  bear  the  construc- 
tion that  the  English  consul,  Mr.  Harry  Parkes,  should  pay 
all  the  cost  himself.  If  Commissioner  Yeh  was  a  humorist 
he  chose  a  bad  time  for  indulging  his  proclivities,  and,  a 
sufficient  force  being  available,  orders  were  at  once  given 


856  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

to  attack  Canton.  On  December  15  Honan  was  occupied, 
and  ten  days  were  passed  in  bringing  up  the  troops  and  the 
necessary  stores,  when,  all  being  in  readiness,  an  ultimatum 
was  sent  to  Yeh  that  if  he  would  not  give  way  within  forty- 
eight  hours  the  attack  would  commence.  At  the  same  time 
every  effort  was  made  to  warn  the  unoffending  townspeople, 
so  that  they  might  remove  to  a  place  of  safety.  The  attack- 
ing force  numbered  about  5,000  English,  1,000  French,  and 
750  of  the  Chinese  coolie  corps,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the 
most  vulnerable  point  in  the  Chinese  position  was  Lin's  fort, 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  city.  When  the  attack  began,  on 
December  28,  this  fort  was  captured  in  half  an  hour,  and 
the  Chinese  retired  to  the  northern  hills,  which  they  had 
made  their  chief  position  in  1842.  The  destruction  of  Lin's 
fort  by  the  accidental  explosion  of  the  magazine  somewhat 
neutralized  the  advantage  of  its  capture.  On  the  following 
day  the  order  was  given  to  assault  the  city  by  escalade,  and 
three  separate  parties  advanced  on  the  eastern  wall.  The 
Chinese  kept  up  a  good  fire  until  the  troops  were  within  a 
short  distance,  but  before  the  ladders  were  placed  against 
the  wall  they  abandoned  their  defenses  and  fled.  The  En- 
glish troops  reformed  on  the  wide  rampart  of  the  wall  and 
pursued  the  Chinese  to  the  north  gate,  where,  being  joined 
by  some  Manchu  troops,  the  latter  turned  and  charged  up  to 
the  bayonets  of  an  English  regiment.  But  they  were  re- 
pulsed and  driven  out  of  the  city,  and  simultaneously  with 
this  success  the  fort  on  Magazine  Hill,  commanding  both 
the  city  and  the  Chinese  position  on  the  northern  hills,  was 
captured  without  loss.  In  less  than  two  hours  the  great  city 
of  Canton  was  in  the  possession  of  the  allies,  and  the  Chinese 
resistance  was  far  less  vigorous  and  worse  directed  than  on 
any  occasion  of  equal  importance.  Still,  the  English  loss 
was  fourteen  killed  and  eighty-three  wounded,  while  the 
French  casualties  numbered  thirty-four.  The  Chinese  had, 
however,  to  abandon  their  positions  north  of  the  city,  and 
their  elaborate  fortifications  were  blown  up. 

Although  all  regular  resistance  had  been  overcome,  the 


THE   SECOND   FOREIGN   WAR.  357 

greater  part  of  the  city  remained  in  possession  of  the  Chinese 
and  of  Yeh  in  person.  That  official,  although  in  the  lowest 
straits,  had  lost  neither  his  fortitude  nor  his  ferocity.  He 
made  not  the  least  sign  of  surrender,  and  his  last  act  of 
authority  was  to  order  the  execution  of  400  citizens,  whom 
he  denounced  as  traitors  to  their  country.  From  his  yamen 
in  the  interior  of  the  city,  when  he  found  that  the  English 
hesitated  to  advance  beyond  the  walls,  he  incited  the  popu- 
lace to  fresh  efforts  of  hostility,  and,  in  order  to  check  their 
increasing  audacity,  it  was  resolved  to  send  a  force  into  the 
city  to  effect  the  capture  of  Yeh.  On  January  5,  1858,  three 
detachments  were  sent  into  the  native  city,  and  they  ad- 
vanced at  once  upon  the  official  residences  of  Yeh  and 
Pihkwei,  the  governor.  The  Chinese  were  quite  unprepared 
for  this  move,  and  being  taken  unawares  they  offered 
scarcely  any  resistance.  The  yamen  was  occupied  and  the 
treasury  captured,  while  Pihkwei  was  made  prisoner  in  his 
own  house.  The  French  at  the  same  time  attacked  and 
occupied  the  Tartar  city — a  vast  stone-built  suburb  which 
had  been  long  allowed  to  fall  into  decay,  and  which,  instead 
of  being  occupied,  as  was  believed,  by  -7,000  Manchu  war- 
riors, was  the  residence  of  bats  and  nauseous  creatures. 
But  the  great  object  of  the  attack  was  unattained,  for  Yeh 
still  remained  at  large,  and  no  one  seemed  to  know  where 
he  ought  to  be  sought,  for  all  the  official  buildings  had  been 
searched  in  vain.  But  Mr.  Parkes,  by  indefatigable  inquiry, 
at  last  gained  a  clew  from  a  poor  scholar  whom  he  found 
poring  over  an  ancient  classic  at  the  library,  undisturbed  in 
the  midst  of  the  turmoil.  From  him  he  learned  that  Yeh 
would  probably  be  found  in  a  yamen  situated  in  the  south- 
west quarter  of  the  city.  Mr.  Parkes  hastened  thither  with 
Captain  (after  v  ard  Admiral)  Cooper  Key  and  a  party  of 
sailors.  They  arrived  just  in  time,  for  all  the  preparations 
for  flight  had  been  made,  and  Captain  Key  caught  Yeh  with 
his  own  hand  as  he  was  escaping  over  the  wall.  One  of  his 
assistants  came  forward  with  praiseworthy  devotion  and 
declared  himself  to  be  Yeh,  in  the  hope  of  saving  his  su- 


858  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHIX.u 

perior;  but  the  deception  was  at  once  detected  by  Mr. 
Parkes,  who  assured  Yeh  that  no  harm  would  be  done  him. 
The  capture  of  Yeh  completed  the  effect  of  the  occupation 
of  Canton,  and  the  disappearance  of  the  most  fanatical  oppo- 
nent of  the  foreigners  insured  the  tranquillity  of  the  Canton 
region,  which  had  been  the  main  seat  of  disorder,  during  the 
remainder  of  the  war.  The  government  of  Canton  was  then 
intrusted  to  Pihkwei  and  a  commission  of  one  Frenchman 
and  two  Englishmen,  and  the  Chinese  admitted  it  had  never 
been  better  governed.  Yeh  himself  was  sent  to  Calcutta, 
where  he  died  two  years  later,  and,  considering  the  abun- 
dant evidence  of  his  cruel  treatment  of  defenseless  prisoners, 
he  had  every  reason  to  consider  his  punishment  lenient. 

Having  thus  settled  the  difficulty  at  Canton,  it  remained 
for  Lord  Elgin  to  carry  out  the  other  part  of  his  task,  and 
place  diplomatic  relations  between  England  and  China  on  a 
satisfactory  basis  by  obtaining  the  right  of  direct  communi- 
cation with  Pekin.  A  letter  dated  February  11,  1858,  was 
sent  to  the  senior  Secretary  of  State  at  Pekin  describing 
what  had  occurred  in  the  south,  and  summarizing  what 
would  be  required  from  the  Chinese  government.  The 
English  and  French  plenipotentiaries  also  notified  that  they 
would  proceed  to  Shanghai  for  the  purpose  of  conducting 
further  negotiations.  This  letter  was  duly  forwarded  to 
Pekin  by  the  Governor  of  Kiangsu,  and  when  Lord  Elgin 
reached  Shanghai  on  March  30  he  found  the  reply  of  Yu- 
ching,  the  chief  adviser  of  Hienfung,  waiting  for  him. 
Yuching's  letter  was  extremely  unsatisfactory.  It  was 
arrogant  in  its  terms  and  impracticable  as  to  its  proposals. 
Lord  Elgin  was  told  that  "no  imperial  commissioner  ever 
conducts  business  at  Shanghai,"  and  that  it  behooved  the 
English  minister  to  wait  at  Canton  until  the  arrival  of  a  new 
imperial  commissioner  from  Pekin.  The  only  concession  the 
Chinese  made  was  to  dismiss  Yeh  from  his  posts,  and  as  he 
was  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  English  this  did  not  mean 
much.  Lord  Elgin's  reply  to  this  communication  was  to 
announce  his  intention  of  proceeding  to  the  Peiho,  and  there 


THE   SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  359 

negotiating  direct  with  the  imperial  government.  Lord 
Elgin  reached  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli  about  the  middle  of" 
April,  and  he  again  addressed  Yuching  in  the  hope  of  an 
amicable  settlement,  and  requested  that  the  emperor  would 
appoint  some  official  to  act  as  his  plenipotentiary.  Three 
minor  officials  were  appointed,  more  out  of  curiosity  than 
from  a  desire  to  promote  business,  but  on  Lord  Elgin  discov- 
ering that  they  were  of  inferior  rank  and  that  their  powers 
were  inadequate,  he  declined  to  see  them.  But  Yuching  re- 
fused to  appoint  any  others ;  stating  curtly  that  their  powers 
were  ample  for  the  adjustment  of  affairs,  and  then  Lord 
Elgin  announced  that  he  would  proceed  up  the  Peiho  to 
Tientsin.  Some  delay  was  caused  by  the  non-arrival  of  the 
fleet,  which  was  not  assembled  in  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli, 
through  different  causes  of  delay,  until  the  end  of  May,  or 
about  three  weeks  after  Lord  Elgin  announced  his  intention 
of  forcing  his  way  up  to  Tientsin.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
Sir  Michael  Seymour  was  in  no  sense  to  blame  for  this  delay, 
but  unfortunately  it  aroused  considerable  irritation  in  the 
mind  of  Lord  Elgin,  who  sent  home  a  dispatch,  without 
informing  his  colleague,  stating  that  the  delay  was  "a  most 
grievous  disappointment,"  and  attributing  it  to  the  supine- 
ness  of  the  admiral. 

On  May  19  the  allied  fleet  proceeded  to  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  and  summoned  the  commandant  to  surrender  the  Taku 
forts  on  the  following  morning.  No  reply  being  received,  the 
attack  commenced,  and  after  the  bombardment  had  gone  on 
at  short  range  for  an  hour  and  a  quarter  the  Chinese  gun- 
ners were  driven  from  their  batteries,  and  the  troops  landed, 
occupying  the  whole  line  of  forts  and  intrenched  camps.  An 
attempt  to  injure  our  fleet  by  fire-ships  miscarried,  and  oon- 
sidering  that  the  Chinese  had  some  of  their  best  troops  pres- 
ent, including  a  portion  of  the  Imperial  Guard,  their  resist- 
ance was  not  as  great  as  might  have  been  expected.  Their 
general  committed  suicide,  and  the  Chinese  lost  the  best  part 
of  their  artillery,  which  had  been  removed  from  Pekin  and 
Tientsin  for  the  defense  of  the  entrance  to  the  Peiho.     The 


360  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

fleet  proceeded  up  the  river  to  Tientsin,  and  Lord  Elgin  took 
up  his  quarters  in  that  city.  The  Chinese  government  was 
brought  to  reason  by  this  striking  success,  and,  with  his 
capital  menaced,  the  emperor  hastened  to  delegate  full  pow- 
ers to  two  high  commissioners,  Kweiliang  and  Hwashana, 
both  Manchus  and  dignitaries  of  the  highest  birth  and  rank. 
Their  powers  were  superior  to  those  granted  to  Keying  at  the 
time  of  the  old  war,  and  they  were  commanded  with  affec- 
tionate earnestness  to  show  the  foreigners  that  they  were 
competent  and  willing  to  grant  anything  not  injurious  to 
China.  Nothing  could  be  more  satisfactory  than  the  pro- 
posals of  the  new  Chinese  representatives,  and  they  were 
anxious  to  settle  everything  with  the  least  possible  delay. 
At  this  point  there  reappeared  upon  the  scene  a  man  whose 
previous  experience  and  high  position  entitled  him  to  some 
consideration.  Less  than  a  week  after  his  first  interview 
with  the  imperial  representatives,  Lord  Elgin  received  a 
letter  from  Keying,  who,  it  was  soon  found,  had  come  on 
a  self-appointed  mission  to  induce  the  English  by  artifice 
and  plausible  representation  to  withdraw  their  fleet  from  the 
river.  His  zeal  was  increased  by  the  knowledge  that  the 
penalty  of  failure  would  be  death,  and  as  his  reputation  had 
been  very  great  among  Europeans  there  is  no  saying  but  that 
he  might  have  succeeded  had  there  not  been  discovered  in 
Yeh's  yamen  at  Canton  some  of  his  papers,  which  showed 
that  he  had  played  a  double  part  throughout,  and  that  at 
heart  he  was  bitterly  anti-foreign.  "When  he  found  that  the 
English  possessed  this  information  he  hastened  back  to  Pekin, 
where  he  was  at  once  summoned  before  the  Board  of  Pun- 
ishment for  immediate  judgment,  and,  being  found  guilty, 
it  was  ordered  that  as  he  had  acted  "with  stupidity  and 
precipitancy"  he  should  be  strangled  forthwith.  As  an  act 
of  extreme  grace  the  emperor  allowed  him  to  put  an  end  to 
his  existence  in  consideration  of  his  being  a  member  of  the 
imperial  family. 

After  the  departure  of  Keying,  negotiations  proceeded 
very  satisfactorily  with  Kweiliang  and  Hwashana,  and  all 


THE   SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  361 

the  points  were  practically  agreed  upon,  excepting  the  right 
to  have  a  resident  minister  at  Pekin.  This  claim  was  op- 
posed on  several  grounds.  It  was  not  merely  something 
that  had  never  been  heard  of,  but  it  would  probably  be 
attended  with  peril  to  the  envoy  as  well  as  to  the  Chinese 
government.  Then  the  commissioners  wanted  to  know  if 
he  would  wear  the  Chinese  dress,  if  all  the  powers  would 
have  only  one  minister,  and  if  he  would  make  the  kotow? 
Finding  such  arguments  fail  they  asked  that  the  visit  of  an 
English  embassador  to  Pekin  should  be  postponed  till  a  more 
favorable  occasion.  They  made  the  admission  that  "there 
is  properly  no  objection  to  the  permanent  residence  at  Pekin 
of  a  plenipotentiary  minister  of  her  Britannic  Majesty,"  and 
they  even  spoke  of  sending  a  return  mission  to  London;  but 
they  deprecated  the  proposal  as  novel  and  as  specially  risky 
at  this  moment  in  consequence  of  the  formidable  Taeping 
Rebellion.  These  representations  did  not  fail  to  produce  their 
effect,  for  it  was  not  to  the  interest  of  Europeans  generally 
that  the  emperor's  authority  should  be  subverted  on  the 
morrow  of  his  signing  a  treaty  with  us.  In  consequence  of 
these  feelings,  and  with  a  wish  to  reciprocate  the  generally- 
conciliatory  attitude  of  the  Chinese  officials,  Kweiliang  and 
Hwashana  were  informed  that  the  right  would  be  waived 
for  the  present,  except  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  the 
English  minister  to  visit  Pekin  twelve  months  later,  on  the 
occasion  of  exchanging  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty;  and 
so  the  matter  was  left  pending  the  arrival  of  that  occasion. 
While  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin  provided  for  the  conclusion  of 
a  peace  that  promised  to  be  enduring,  and  arranged  for  the 
future  diplomatic  relations  of  the  two  countries,  commis- 
sioners were  duly  appointed  to  meet  at  Shanghai  and  draw 
up  a  tariff.  But  at  Tientsin  the  great  crux  in  the  com- 
mercial relations  between  us  and  the  Chinese  had  been  set- 
tled by  the  legalization  of  opium.  It  was  agreed  that  opium 
might  be  imported  into  China  on  payment  of  thirty  taels,  or 
about  fifty  dollars,  per  chest.  Experience  had  shown  that 
leaving  the  most  largely-imported  article  into  China  contra- 

16 


362  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

band  had  been  both  futile  and  inconvenient,  while  the  Chi- 
nese government  was  a  direct  loser  by  not  enjoying  a  legiti- 
mate source  of  revenue.  How  general  the  view  had  become 
that  the  evils  of  the  use  of  opium  were  exaggerated,  and, 
even  admitting  them,  that  there  was  no  better  way  of  dimin- 
ishing their  effect  than  by  legalizing  the  import  of  opium, 
can  be  judged  by  the  ready  acquiescence  of  the  Chinese  com- 
missioners; and  here,  from  many  other  matured  opinions, 
we  may  quote  the  final  and  deliberate  conviction  of  Sir 
Henry  Pottinger: 

"I  take  this  opportunity  to  advert  to  one  important  topic 
on  which  I  have  hitherto  considered  it  right  to  preserve  a 
rigid  silence — I  allude  to  the  trade  in  opium;  and  I  now 
unhesitatingly  declare  in  this  public  manner  that  after  the 
most  unbiased  and  careful  observations  I  have  become  con- 
vinced during  my  stay  in  China  that  the  alleged  demoraliz- 
ing and  debasing  evils  of  opium  have  been  and  are  vastly 
exaggerated.  Like  all  other  indulgences,  excesses  in  its  use 
are  bad  and  reprehensible ;  but  I  have  neither  myself  seen 
such  vicious  consequences  as  are  frequently  ascribed  to  it, 
nor  have  I  been  able  to  obtain  authentic  proofs  or  informa- 
tion of  their  existence.  The  great,  and  perhaps  I  might  say 
sole,  objection  to  the  trade,  looking  at  it  morally  and  ab- 
stractedly, that  I  have  discovered,  is  that  it  is  at  present  con- 
traband and  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  China,  and  therefore 
to  be  regretted  and  disavowed;  but  I  have  striven— and  I 
hope  with  some  prospect  of  eventual  success — to  bring  about 
its  legalization ;  and  were  that  point  once  effected,  I  am  of 
opinion  that  its  most  objectionable  feature  would  be  alto- 
gether removed.  Even  as  it  now  exists  it  appears  to  me  to 
be  unattended  with  a  hundredth  part  of  the  debasement  and 
misery  which  may  be  seen  in  our  native  country  from  the 
lamentable  abuse  of  ardent  spirits,  and  those  who  so  sweep- 
ingly  condemn  the  opium  trade  on  that  principle  need  not, 
I  think,  leave  the  shores  of  England  to  find  a  far  greater  and 
more  besetting  evil." 

The  ink  on  the  Tientsin  treaty  was  scarcely  dry  before 


THE  SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR  363 

reasons  began  to  be  furnished  against  the  sincerity  of  the 
emperor  and  his  desire  for  peace.  Before  the  fleet  left  the 
Peiho  workmen  were  already  engaged  repairing  and  re-arm- 
ing the  Taku  forts,  and  the  morrow  of  Lord  Elgin's  depart- 
ure from  Hongkong  witnessed  the  revival  of  disturbances 
round  Canton,  where  the  new  imperial  commissioner  Hwang, 
instead  of  seeking  to  restore  harmony,  had  devoted  himself 
to  inciting  the  population  to  patriotic  deeds  in  emulation  of 
Commissioner  Yeh.  It  was  found  necessary  to  take  strenu- 
ous measures  against  the  turbulent  patriots  of  Kwantung, 
and  to  break  up  their  main  force  in  their  strong  and  well- 
chosen  position  at  Shektsin,  which  was  accomplished  by  a 
vigorous  attack  both  on  land  and  water.  The  suspicion  that 
the  Chinese  were  not  absolutely  straightforward  in  their 
latest  dealings  with  us  was  confirmed  by  the  discovery  at 
Shektsin  of  secret  imperial  edicts,  breathing  defiance  to  the 
foreigners  and  inciting  the  people  to  resistance.  These  and 
other  facts  warned  the  European  authorities  on  the  spot  that 
there  was  no  certainty  that  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin  would  be 
ratified,  or  that  a  British  envoy  would  be  admitted  into  the 
capital  for  even  the  temporary  business  of  a  diplomatic  cere- 
mony. "While  people  in  Europe  were  assuming  that  the 
Chinese  question  might  be  dismissed  for  twenty  years,  the 
English  consuls  and  commanders  in  the  treaty  ports  were 
preparing  themselves  for  a  fresh  and  more  vigorous  demon- 
stration of  Chinese  hostility  and  animosity.  The  matter  that 
was  to  prove  the  sincerity  and  good  faith  of  the  Chinese 
government  was  the  reception  at  Pekin  of  the  English  offi- 
cer intrusted  with  the  duty  of  exchanging  the  ratified  copies 
of  the  treaty.  If  he  were  allowed  to  proceed  to  Pekin  there 
would  be  reason  for  accepting  the  assurances  of  the  emperor 
that  a  permanent  arrangement  should  be  effected  later  on, 
when  it  would  not  injure  his  dignity  or  authority. 

Mr.  Frederick  Bruce,  who  had  been  secretary  to  his 
brother,  Lord  Elgin,  and  who  had  previously  served  at 
Hongkong,  was  appointed  her  Majesty's  representative  for 
the  purpose  of  exchanging  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty.    He 


364  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

was  instructed  to  inform  the  Chinese  officials  that,  while  the 
British  government  would  not  renounce  the  right  of  having 
a  permanent  resident  minister  at  Pekin,  they  were  prepared 
to  waive  it  for  a  time  by  allowing  diplomatic  intercourse  to 
be  carried  on  at  Shanghai.  But  no  deviation  was  to  be  per- 
mitted from  the  arrangement  that  the  ratifications  were  to 
be  exchanged  at  Pekin,  and  Lord  Malmesbury  warned  the 
new  envoy  that  "all  the  arts  at  which  the  Chinese  are  such 
adepts  will  be  put  in  practice  to  dissuade  you  from  repairing 
to  the  capital."  Mr.  Bruce  received  his  instructions  on 
March  1,  1859,  and  the  exchange  of  ratifications  had  to  be 
effected  before  June  26.  Mr.  Bruce  reached  Hongkong  in 
April,  and  he  found  the  air  full  of  unsatisfactory  rumors; 
and  when  he  reached  Shanghai  the  uncertainty  was  inten- 
sified by  the  presence  of  Kweiliang  and  Hwashana,  who 
seemed  to  think  that  everything  might  be  settled  without 
a  journey  to  Pekin.  They  endeavored  to  get  up  a  discussion 
on  some  unsettled  details  of  minor  importance,  in  the  hope 
that  the  period  for  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  might  be 
allowed  to  expire.  Mr.  Bruce  announced  his  imminent 
departure  for  the  Peiho  to  Kweiliang,  and  expressed  the 
hope  that  arrangements  would  be  made  for  his  safe  convey- 
ance to  and  appropriate  accommodation  at  Pekin.  Neither 
Mr.  Bruce 's  instructions  nor  his  own  opinion  justified  any 
delay  in  proceeding  to  the  north,  and  the  fleet  sent  on  in 
advance  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Hope  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Peiho  on  June  17,  three  days  before  Mr.  Bruce. 
The  admiral  on  arrival  sent  a  'notification  to  the  Chinese 
officers  in  command  of  the  forts  that  the  English  envoy  was 
coming.  But  the  reception  given  to  the  officers  who  con- 
veyed this  intimation  was  distinctly  unfavorable  and  even 
hostile.  The  two  boats  sent  ashore  found  that  the  entrance 
to  the  river  was  effectually  barred  by  a  row  of  iron  stakes 
and  by  an  inner  boom,  and  that  a  large  and  excited  crowd 
forbade  them  to  land.  A  vague  promise  was  given  that  an 
opening  would  be  made  in  the  obstructions  to  admit  the 
passage  of   the  English  ships;   but  on  the  boats  repeating 


THE   SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  365 

their  visit  on  the  succeeding  day  they  found  that  the  small 
passages  had  been  more  effectually  secured,  and  that  there 
could  no  longer  be  any  doubt  that  the  Chinese  did  not  intend 
to  admit  the  English  envoy.  It  was  therefore  determined 
to  make  a  demonstration  with  the  fleet,  and  if  necessary  to 
resort  to  force,  which  it  was  never  doubted  would  be  attended 
with  little  risk  and  crowned  with  complete  success. 

On  June  25  the  attack  on  the  Taku  forts  began  with  the 
removal  of  the  iron  stakes  forming  the  outer  barrier  by  the 
steamer  "Opossum,"  and  this  part  of  the  operations  was 
performed  without  a  shot  being  fired.  When,  however,  the 
eleven  ships  forming  the  English  fleet  reached  the  inner 
boom  all  the  Chinese  forts  and  batteries  began  to  fire  with 
an  accuracy  which  showed  that  the  guns  had  been  trained 
to  bear  on  this  precise  spot.  The  result  of  this  unexpectedly 
vigorous  bombardment  was  soon  shown  in  the  damaged 
condition  of  our  ships.  Two  gunboats  were  sunk,  all  the 
vessels  were  more  or  less  damaged,  and  when,  after  three 
hours'  cannonade,  it  was  sought  to  retrieve  the  doubtful 
fortune  of  the  day  by  a  land  attack,  the  result  only  went  to 
accentuate  the  ill  results  of  the  naval  engagement.  In  this 
disastrous  affair  more  than  300  men  were  killed  and  wounded, 
which,  added  to  the  loss  of  three  gunboats,  represented  a 
very  serious  disaster.  But  the  worst  of  it  was  that  it  con- 
vinced the  emperor  and  his  advisers  that  they  could  hold 
their  own  against  Europeans,  and  that  it  placed  the  extreme 
party  once  more  in  the  ascendant  at  Pekin.  Sankolinsin,  the 
Mongol  prince  who  had  checked  the  advance  of  the  Taepings, 
became  master  of  the  situation,  and  declared  that  there  was 
nothing  to  fear  from  an  enemy  who  had  been  repulsed  by 
the  raw  levies  of  the  province  while  he  held  the  flat  country 
between  the  Peiho  and  Pekin  with  the  flower  of  the  Banner 
army.  Mr.  Bruce  returned  to  Shanghai,  the  fleet  to  Hong- 
kong, and  the  matter  remained  suspended  until  fresh  instruc- 
tions and  troops  could  be  received  from  Europe. 

After  some  hesitation  and  delay,  a  plan  of  joint  action 
was  agreed  upon  in  November,  1859,  between  France  and 


366  A   SHORT    HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

England,  and  it  was  hoped  that  the  whole  expeditionary 
force  would  have  reached  its  destination  by  April,  1860. 
Pending  its  arrival  Mr.  Bruce  was  instructed  to  present  an 
ultimatum  with  thirty  days'  grace  demanding  an  immediate 
apology,  the  payment  of  a  large  indemnity  amounting  to 
$12,000,000  to  both  England  and  France,  and  the  ratification 
of  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin.  The  minister,  Pang  Wanching, 
replied,  categorically  refusing  all  these  requests;  and,  as 
neither  indemnity  nor  apology  was  offered,  there  remained 
no  alternative  but  the  inevitable  and  supreme  appeal  to  arms. 
The  troops  which  were  to  form  the  expedition  were  mainly 
drawn  from  India,  and  Sir  Hope  Grant,  who  had  not  merely 
distinguished  himself  during  the  Mutiny,  but  who  had  served 
in  the  first  English  war  with  China  during  the  operations 
round  Canton,  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army ; 
while  Admiral  Hope,  strongly  re-enforced  in  ships,  retained 
the  command  of  the  naval  forces.  A  force  of  five  batteries 
of  artillery,  six  regiments  of  infantry,  two  squadrons  of  cav- 
alry, together  with  a  body  of  horse  and  foot  from  the  native 
army  of  India,  amounting  in  all  to  about  10,000  men,  was 
placed  at  the  general's  disposal  in  addition  to  the  troops 
already  in  China.  The  French  government  agreed  to  send 
another  army  of  about  two-thirds  this  strength  to  co-operate 
on  the  Peiho,  and  General  Montauban  was  named  for  the 
command.  The  collection  of  this  large  expedition  brought 
into  prominence  the  necessity  of  employing  as  embassador  a 
diplomatist  of  higher  rank  than  Mr.  Bruce ;  and  accordingly, 
in  February  Lord  Elgin  and  Baron  Gros  were  commissioned 
to  again  proceed  to  China  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
ratification  of  their  own  treaty.  Sir  Hope  Grant  reached 
Hongkong  in  March,  1860,  and  by  his  recommendation  a 
stronger  native  contingent  (one  Sikh  regiment,  four  Punjab 
regiments,  two  Bombay  regiments,  one  Madras  regiment  of 
foot,  and  two  irregular  regiments  of  Sikh  cavalry,  known 
as  Fane's  and  Probyn's  Horse;  Sir  John  Michel  and  Sir 
Robert  Napier  commanding  divisions  under  Sir  Hope  Grant) 
was  added,  raising  the  English  force  in  the  field  to  more 


THE   SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  30? 

than  13,000  men.  A  lease  was  obtained  in  perpetuity, 
through  the  skillful  negotiation  of  Mr.  Parkes,  of  Kowlun 
and  Stonecutter  Island,  where,  from  their  salubrious  posi- 
tion, it  was  proposed  to  place  the  troops  on  their  arrival  from 
India  or  England.  Chusan  was  occupied  the  following 
month  without  opposition  by  an  English  brigade  of  2,000 
men. 

The  summer  had  commenced  before  the  whole  of  the 
expedition  assembled  at  Hongkong,  whence  it  was  moved 
northward  to  Shanghai  about  a  year  after  the  failure  of 
the  attack  on  the  forts  on  the  Peiho.  A  further  delay  was 
caused  by  the  tardiness  of  the  French,  and  July  had  begun 
before  the  expedition  reached  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli.  Then 
opposite  opinions  led  to  different  suggestions,  and  while  the 
English  advocated  proceeding  to  attack  Pehtang,  General 
Montauban  drew  up  another  plan  of  action.  But  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  alliance  compelled  the  English,  who  were 
ready,  to  wait  for  the  French,  who  were  not,  in  order  that 
the  assault  might  be  made  simultaneously.  Before  that 
time  arrived  the  French  commander  had  been  brought  round 
to  the  view  that  the  proper  plan  of  campaign  was  that  sug- 
gested by  the  English  commander;  viz.,  to  attack  and  cap- 
ture Pehtang,  whence  the  Taku  forts  might  be  taken  in  the 
rear.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  to  observe  that  no  one 
suggested  a  second  time  endeavoring  to  carry  by  a  front 
attack  these  forts,  which  had  in  the  interval  since  Admiral 
Hope's  failure  been  rendered  more  formidable. 

At  Pehtang  the  Chinese  had  made  few  preparations  for 
defense,  and  nothing  of  the  same  formidable  character  as 
at  Taku.  The  forts  on  both  sides  of  the  river  were  neither 
extensive  nor  well-armed.  The  garrison  consisted  largely 
of  Tartar  cavalry,  more  useful  for  watching  the  movements 
of  the  foreigners  than  for  working  artillery  when  exposed  to 
the  fire  of  the  new  Armstrong  guns  of  the  English.  The 
attacking  force  landed  in  boats  and  by  wading,  Sir  Hope 
Grant  setting  his  men  the  example.  No  engagement  took 
place  on  the  night  of  disembarkation.     "When  morning  broke, 


36S  A   SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA 

a  suspicious  silence  in  the  enemy's  quarters  strengthened  the 
belief  that  Pehtang  would  not  be  defended.  While  the  gar- 
rison had  resolved  not  to  resist  an  attack,  they  had  contem- 
plated causing  their  enemy  as  much  loss  as  if  he  had  been 
obliged  to  carry  the  place  by  storm  by  placing  shells  in  the 
magazine  which  would  be  exploded  by  the  moving  of  some 
gunlocks  put  in  a  spot  where  they  could  not  fail  to  be  trod- 
den upon.  This  plot,  which  was  thoroughly  in  accordance 
with  the  practices  of  Chinese  warfare,  was  fortunately 
divulged  by  a  native  more  humane  than  patriotic,  and 
Pehtang  was  captured  and  occupied  without  the  loss  of  a 
single  man.  This  success  at  the  commencement  enabled  the 
whole  of  the  expedition  to  land  without  further  delay  or 
difficulty.  Three  days  after  the  capture  of  Pehtang,  recon- 
noitering  parties  were  sent  out  to  ascertain  what  the  Chinese 
were  doing,  and  whether  they  had  made  any  preparations 
to  oppose  an  advance  toward  Taku  or  Tientsin.  Four  miles 
from  Pehtang  they  came  in  sight  of  a  strongly  intrenched 
camp,  where  several  thousand  men  opened  fire  upon  the 
reconnoitering  parties  with  their  gingalls,  and  several  men 
were  wounded.  The  object  being  only  to  find  out  what  the 
Celestial  army  was  doing,  and  where  it  was,  the  Europeans 
withdrew  on  discovering  the  proximity  of  so  strong  a  force. 
The  great  difficulty  was  to  discover  a  way  of  getting  from 
Pehtang  on  to  some  of  the  main  roads  leading  to  the  Peiho ; 
for  the  whole  of  the  surrounding  country  had  been  under 
water,  and  was  more  or  less  impassable.  In  fact,  the  region 
round  Pehtang  consisted  of  nothing  but  mud,  while  the  one 
road,  an  elevated  causeway,  was  blocked  by  the  fortified 
camp  just  mentioned  as  having  been  discovered  by  the 
reconnoitering  party.  A  subsequent  reconnaissance,  con- 
ducted by  Colonel  (now  Lord)  Wolseley,  revealed  the  pres- 
ence of  a  cart-track  which  might  prove  available  for  the 
march  of  troops.  This  track  was  turned  to  advantage  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  the  Chinese  position  in  flank,  and  to 
Sir  Robert  Napier's  division  was  assigned  this,  as  it  proved, 
difficult  operation.      When  the  maneuver  of   out-flanking 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  369 

had  been  satisfactorily  accomplished,  the  attack  was  com- 
menced in  front.  Here  the  Chinese  stood  to  their  position, 
but  only  for  a  brief  time,  as  the  fire  from  eighteen  guns, 
including  some  forty- pounders,  soon  silenced  their  gingalls, 
and  they  precipitately  abandoned  their  intrenchments.  While 
the  engagement  in  front  had  reached  this  favorable  termina- 
tion Sir  Robert  Napier  had  been  engaged  on  the  right  hand 
with  a  strong  body  of  Tartar  cavalry,  which  attacked  with 
considerable  valor,  and  with  what  seemed  a  possibility  of 
success,  until  the  guns  opening  upon  them  and  the  Sikh 
cavalry  charging  them  dispelled  their  momentary  dream  of 
victory.  The  prize  of  this  battle  was  the  village  of  Sinho 
with  its  line  of  earthworks,  one  mile  north  of  the  Peiho,  and 
about  seven  miles  in  the  rear  of  the  Taku  forts. 

The  next  day  was  occupied  in  examining  the  Chinese 
position  and  in  discovering,  what  was  more  difficult  than  its 
capture,  how  it  might  be  approached.  It  was  found  that  the 
village,  which  formed  a  fortified  square  protected  by  bat- 
teries, could  be  best  approached  by  the  river  bank,  and  the 
only  obstacle  in  this  quarter  was  that  represented  by  the  fire 
of  the  guns  of  two  junks,  supported  by  a  battery  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  river.  These,  however,  were  soon  silenced 
by  the  superior  fire  directed  upon  them,  and  the  guns  were 
spiked  by  Captain  Willis  and  a  few  sailors,  who  crossed  the 
river  for  the  purpose.  The  flank  of  the  advance  being  thus 
protected,  the  attack  on  Tangku  itself  began  with  a  cannon- 
ade from  thirty-six  pieces  of  the  best  artillery  of  that  age. 
The  Chinese  fire  was  soon  rendered  innocuous,  and  theii 
walls  and  forts  were  battered  down.  Even  then,  however, 
the  garrison  gave  no  signs  of  retreat,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  Armstrongs  had  been  dragged  within  a  very  short  dis- 
tance of  the  walls,  and  the  foot-soldiers  had  absolutely 
effected  an  entrance,  that  the  garrison  thought  of  thair  per- 
sonal safety  and  turned  in  flight. 

Some  days  before  the  battle  and  capture  of  Tangku,  Lord 
Elgin  received  several  communications  from  Hang,  the  Gov- 
ernor-general of  Pechihli,  requesting  a  cessation  of  hostilities, 


370  A    SHORT   HISTOliY   OF    CIIL\A. 

and  announcing  the  approach  of  two  imperial  commissioners 
appointed  for  the  express  purpose  of  ratifying  the  Treaty  of 
Tientsin.  But  Lord  Elgin  very  wisely  perceived  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  negotiate  on  fair  terms  unless  the 
Taku  forts  were  in  his  possession.  The  capture  of  Tangku 
placed  the  allied  forces  in  the  rear  of  the  northern  forts  on 
the  Peiho ;  and  those  forts  once  occupied,  the  others  on  the 
southern  side  would  be  practically  untenable  and  obliged  to 
surrender  at  discretion.  Several  days  were  passed  in  pre- 
liminary observations  and  skirmishing.  On  the  one  side,  the 
whole  of  the  Tartar  cavalry  was  removed  to  the  southern 
bank ;  on  the  other,  a  bridge  of  boats  was  thrown  across  the 
Peiho,  and  the  approach  to  the  northern  fort  carefully  exam- 
ined up  to  600  yards  from  the  wall.  At  this  point  the  views 
of  the  allied  generals  again  clashed.  General  Montauban 
wished  to  attack  the  southern  forts.  Sir  Hope  Grant  was 
determined  to  begin  by  carrying  the  northern.  The  attack 
on  the  chief  northern  fort  commenced  on  the  morning  of  Au- 
gust 21  with  a  heavy  cannonade;  the  Chinese,  anticipating 
the  plans  of  the  English,  were  the  first  to  fire.  The  Chinese 
fought  their  guns  with  extraordinary  courage.  A  shell  ex- 
ploded their  principal  magazine,  which  blew  up  with  a  ter- 
rible report ;  but  as  soon  as  the  smoke  cleared  off  they  recom- 
menced their  fire  with  fresh  ardor.  Although  even  this  fort 
had  not  been  constructed  with  the  same  strength  in  the  rear 
as  they  all  presented  in  the  front,  the  resistance  was  most 
vigorous.  A  premature  attempt  to  throw  a  pontoon  across 
the  ditch  was  defeated  with  the  loss  of  sixteen  men.  The 
coolie  corps  here  came  to  the  front,  and,  rushing  into  the 
water,  held  up  the  pontoons  while  the  French  and  some 
English  troops  dashed  across.  But  all  their  efforts  to  scale 
the  wall  were  baffled,  and  it  seemed  as  if  they  had  only  gone 
to  self-destruction.  While  the  battle  was  thus  doubtfully 
contested,  Major  Anson,  who  had  shown  the  greatest  in- 
trepidity on  several  occasions,  succeeded  in  cutting  the  ropes 
that  held  up  a  drawbridge,  and  an  entrance  was  soon  effected 
within  the  body  of  the  works.     The  Chinese  still  resisted 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN   WAR.  371 

nobly,  and  it  waa  computed  that  out  of  a  garrison  of  500 
men  but  100  escaped.  The  English  loss  was  22  killed,  and 
179,  including  21  officers,  were  wounded.  To  these  figures 
must  be  added  the  French  loss. 

There  still  remained  four  more  forts  on  the  northern  side 
of  the  river,  and  it  seemed  as  if  these  would  offer  further 
resistance,  as  the  garrisons  uttered  threats  of  defiance  to  a 
summons  to  surrender.  But  appearances  were  deceptive, 
and  for  the  good  reason  that  all  of  these  forts  were  only  pro- 
tected in  the  rear  by  a  slight  wall.  The  French  rushed  im- 
petuously to  the  attack,  only  to  find  that  the  garrison  had 
given  up  the  defense,  while  a  large  number  had  actually 
retired.  Two  thousand  prisoners  were  made,  and  the  fall 
of  the  forts  on  the  northern  bank  was  followed  by  an  imme- 
diate summons  to  those  on  the  southern  to  surrender;  and 
as  they  were  commanded  by  the  guns  in  the  former  they 
yielded  with  as  good  a  grace  as  they  could  muster.  The 
following  day  formal  occupation  was  made,  and  the  spoil 
included  more  than  600  cannon  of  various  sizes  and  degrees 
of  efficiency.  On  that  day  also  the  fleet,  which  had  during 
these  operations  been  riding  at  anchor  off  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  proceeded  across  the  bar,  removed  the  different  ob- 
stacles that  had  been  intended  to  hinder  its  approach,  and 
Admiral  Hope  anchored  in  security  off  those  very  forts 
which  had  repulsed  him  in  the  previous  year,  and  which 
would  in  all  probability  have  continued  to  defy  any  direct 
attack  from  the  sea.  Let  it  not  be  said,  therefore,  that  Sir 
Hope  Grant's  capture  of  the  Taku  forts  reflected  in  any  way 
on  the  courage  or  capacity  of  Admiral  Hope  for  the  failure 
in  1859. 

By  this  decisive  success  the  road  to  Tientsin  was  opened" 
both  by  land  and  by  the  river.  The  fleet  of  gunboats,  which 
had  participated  as  far  as  they  could  without  incurring  any 
undue  danger  in  the  attack  on  the  forts,  were  ordered  up  the 
Peiho;  and  the  English  embassador,  escorted  by  a  strong 
naval  and  military  force,  proceeded  to  Tientsin,  where  it 
would  be  possible,  without  any  loss  of  dignity,  to  resume 


372  A    SHORT    IIISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

negotiations  with  the  Pekin  government.  The  advanced 
gunboats  arrived  at  Tientsin  on  August  23,  and  three  days 
later  the  greater  portion  of  the  expedition  had  entered  that 
city.  No  resistance  was  attempted,  although  several  batter- 
ies and  intrenched  camps  were  passed  on  the  way.  Precau- 
tions were  at  once  taken  to  make  the  position  of  the  troops 
as  secure  as  possible  in  the  midst  of  a  very  large  and  pre- 
sumably hostile  population.  The  people  showed,  according 
to  the  ideas  of  Europe,  an  extraordinary  want  of  patriotic 
fervor,  and  were  soon  engaged,  on  the  most  amicable  terms, 
in  conducting  a  brisk  trade  with  the  invaders  of  their  coun- 
try; but  there  was  never  any  doubt  that  on  the  first  sign  of 
a  reverse  they  would  have  turned  upon  the  foreign  troops, 
and  completed  by  all  the  means  in  their  power  their  discom- 
fiture. Several  communications  passed  between  the  opposite 
camps  during  these  days;  and  when  Hang  announced  the 
withdrawal  of  all  Chinese  troops  from  Tientsin  he  expressed 
a  wish  that  the  English  embassador  would  not  bring  many 
vessels  of  war  with  him.  But  such  requests  were  made 
more  with  the  desire  to  save  appearances  than,  from  any 
hope  that  they  would  be  granted.  The  reality  of  their  fears, 
and  of  their  consequent  desire  to  negotiate,  was  shown  by 
the  appointment  of  Kweiliang,  who  had  arranged  the  Treaty 
of  Tientsin,  as  high  commissioner  to  provide  for  the  neces- 
sary ceremonies  in  connection  with  its  ratification.  Kweiliang 
apparently  possessed  powers  of  the  most  extensive  character; 
and  he  hastened  to  inform  Lord  Elgin,  who  had  taken  up 
his  residence  in  a  beautiful  yamen  in  Tientsin,  that  he  had 
received  the  emperor's  authority  to  discuss  and  decide  every- 
thing. In  response  to  this  notification  the  reply  was  sent 
that  the  three  conditions  of  peace  were  an  apology  for  the 
attack  on  the  English  flag  at  Peiho,  the  payment  of  an  in- 
demnity, including  the  costs  of  the  war,  and,  thirdly,  the 
ratification  and  execution  of  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin,  includ- 
ing, of  course,  the  reception  at  Pekin  of  the  representative 
of  the  Queen  of  England  on  honorable  terms  adequate  to 
the  dignity  of  that  great  sovereign.     To  none  of  these  was 


THE  SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  373 

Kweiliang  himself  disposed  to  raise  any  objection.  Only  in 
connection  with  the  details  of  the  last-named  point  was  there 
likely  that  any  difference  of  opinion  would  arise;  and  that 
difference  of  opinion  speedily  revealed  itself  when  it  became 
known  that  the  English  insisted  on  the  advance  of  their 
army  to  the  town  of  Tungchow,  only  twelve  miles  distant 
from  the  walls  of  Pekin.  To  the  Chinese  ministers  this  sim- 
ple precaution  seemed  like  exacting  the  extreme  rights  of  the 
conqueror,  before,  too,  the  act  of  conquest  had  been  consum- 
mated ;  for  already  fresh  troops  were  arriving  from  Mongolia 
and  Manchuria,  and  the  valor  of  Sankolinsin  was  beginning 
to  revive.  That  the  Chinese  government  had  under  the 
hard  taskmaster,  necessity,  made  great  progress  in  its  views 
on  foreign  matters  was  not  to  be  denied,  but  somehow  or 
other  its  movements  always  lagged  behind  the  requirements 
of  the  hour,  and  the  demands  of  the  English  were  again 
ahead  of  what  it  was  disposed  to  yield. 

If  the  Chinese  government  had  promptly  accepted  the 
inevitable,  and  if  Kweiliang  had  negotiated  with  as  much 
celerity  as  he  pretended  to  be  his  desire,  peace  might  have 
been  concluded  and  the  Chinese  saved  some  further  igno- 
miny. But  it  soon  became  clear  that  all  the  Chinese  were 
thinking  about  was  to  gain  time,  and  as  the  months  avail- 
able for  active  campaigning  were  rapidly  disappearing,  it 
was  imperative  that  not  the  least  delay  should  be  sanctioned. 
On  September  8,  Lord  Elgin  and  Sir  Hope  Grant  left  Tien- 
tsin with  an  advance  force  of  about  1,500  men;  and,  march- 
ing by  the  highroad,  reached  the  pretty  village  of  Hosiwu, 
naif -way  between  that  town  and  the  capital.  A  few  days 
later  this  force  was  increased  by  the  remainder  of  one  divis- 
ion, while  to  Sir  Robert  Napier  was  left  the  task  of  guarding 
with  the  other  Tientsin  and  the  communications  with  the  sea. 
At  Hosiwu  negotiations  were  resumed  by  Tsai,  Prince  of  I, 
a  nephew  of  the  emperor,  who  declared  that  he  had  received 
authority  to  conclude  all  arrangements ;  but  he  was  curtly 
informed  that  no  treaty  could  be  concluded  save  at  Tung- 
chow, and  the  armv  resumed  its  advance  beyond  Hosiwu. 


374  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

The  march  was  continued  without  molestation  to  a  point 
beyond  the  village  of  Matow,  but  when  Sir  Hope  Grant 
approached  a  place  called  Chan-chia-wan  he  found  himself 
in  presence  of  a  large  army.  This  was  the  first  sign  of  any 
resolve  to  offer  military  opposition  to  the  invaders  since  the 
capture  of  the  Taku  forts,  and  it  came  to  a  great  extent  in 
the  manner  of  a  surprise,  for  by  a  special  agreement  with 
Mr.  Parkes  the  settlement  of  the  difficulty  was  to  be  con- 
cluded at  Chan-chia-wan  in  an  amicable  manner.  Instead, 
however,  of  the  emperor's  delegates,  the  English  commander 
found  Sankolinsin  and  the  latest  troops  drawn  from  Pekin 
and  beyond  the  wall  in  battle  array,  and  occupying  the 
very  ground  which  had  been  assigned  for  the  English  en- 
campment. 

The  day  before  the  English  commander  perceived  that 
he  was  in  face  of  a  strong  force  Mr.  Parkes  and  some  other 
officers  and  civilians  had  been  sent  ahead  with  an  escort  of 
Sikh  cavalry  to  arrange  the  final  preliminaries  with  the  im- 
perial commissioners  at  Tungchow,  both  as  to  where  the 
camp  was  to  be  pitched  and  also  as  to  the  interview  between 
the  respective  plenipotentiaries  of  the  opposing  powers.  This 
party  proceeded  to  Tungchow  without  encountering  any  op- 
position or  perceiving  any  exceptional  military  precautions. 
Troops  were  indeed  observed  at  several  points,  and  officers 
in  command  of  pickets  demanded  the  nature  of  their  business 
and  where  they  were  going,  but  the  reply  "To  the  Commis- 
sioners" at  once  satisfied  all  inquiries  and  opened  every  bar- 
rier. The  one  incident  that  happened  was  of  happy  augury 
for  a  satisfactory  issue  if  the  result  went  to  prove  the  falla- 
ciousness of  human  expectations.  A  change  had  in  the  mean- 
while come  over  the  minds  of  the  imperial  commissioners, 
whether  in  accordance  with  the  working  of  a  deep  and  long- 
arranged  policy,  or  from  the  confidence  created  by  the  sight 
of  the  numerous  warriors  drawn  from  the  cradle  of  the 
Manchu  race  for  the  defense  of  the  capital  and  dynasty, 
can  never  be  ascertained  with  any  degree  of  certainty. 
Their  tone  suddenly  assumed  greater    boldness  and  arro- 


THE   SECOND    SOREIGN    WAR.  375 

gance.  To  some  of  the  Englishmen  it  appeared  "almost 
offensive,"  and  it  was  only  after  five  hours'  discussion 
between  Mr.  Parkes  and  the  commissioners  at  Tungchow 
that  some  sign  was  given  of  a  more  yielding  disposition. 
The  final  arrangements  were  hastily  concluded  in  the  even- 
ing of  September  17  for  the  arrival  of  the  troops  at  the  pro- 
posed camping  ground  on  the  morrow,  and  for  the  interview 
that  was  to  follow  as  soon  after  as  possible.  While  Mr. 
Parkes  and  some  of  his  companions  were  to  ride  forward  in 
the  morning  to  apprise  Sir  Hope  Grant  of  what  had  been 
agreed  upon,  and  to  point  out  the  site  for  his  camp,  the 
others  were  to  remain  in  Tungchow  with  the  greater  part 
of  the  Sik^  escort. 

On  their  return  toward  the  advancing  English  army  in 
the  early  morning  of  the  following  day,  Mr.  Parkes  and  his 
party  met  with  frequent  signs  of  military  movement  in  the 
country  between  Tungchow  and  Chan-chia-wan.  Large 
bodies  of  infantry  and  gingall-men  were  seen  marching 
from  all  quarters  to  the  town.  At  Chan-chia-wan  itself  still 
more  emphatic  tokens  were  visible  of  a  coming  battle.  Cav- 
alry were  drawn  up  in  dense  bodies,  but  under  shelter.  In 
a  nullah  one  regiment  of  a  thousand  sabers  was  stationed 
with  the  men  standing  at  their  horses'  heads  ready  for  in- 
stant action.  At  another  point  a  number  of  men  were  busily 
engaged  in  constructing  a  battery  and  in  placing  twelve  guns 
in  position.  When  the  Englishmen  gained  the  plain  they 
found  the  proposed  site  of  the  English  camp  in  the  actual 
possession  of  a  Chinese  army,  and  a  strong  force  of  Tartar 
cavalry,  alone  reckoned  to  number  six  or  seven  thousand 
men,  scouring  the  plain.  To  all  inquiries  as  to  what  these 
warlike  arrangements  betokened  no  reply  was  made  by  the 
soldiers,  and  when  the  whereabout  of  the  responsible  general 
was  asked  there  came  the  stereotyped  answer  that  "he  was 
many  li  away."  To  the  most  obtuse  mind  these  arrange- 
ments could  convey  but  one  meaning.  They  indicated  that 
the  Chinese  government  had  resolved  to  make  another  en- 
deavor to  avert  the  concessions  demanded  from  them  by  the 


376  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

English  and  their  allies,  and  to  appeal  once  more  to  the  God 
of  Battles  ere  they  accepted  the  inevitable.  When  the  whole 
truth  flashed  across  the  mind  of  Mr.  Parkes,  the  army  of  Sir 
Hope  Grant  might  be,  and  indeed  was,  marching  into  the 
trap  prepared  for  it,  with  such  military  precautions  perhaps 
as  a  wise  general  never  neglected,  but  still  wholly  unpre- 
pared for  the  extensive  and  well-arranged  opposition  planned 
for  its  reception  by  a  numerous  army  established  in  a  strong 
position  of  its  own  choosing.  It  became,  therefore,  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  communicate  the  actual  state  of  affairs 
to  him,  and  to  place  at  his  disposal  the  invaluable  informa- 
tion which  the  Englishmen  returning  from  Tungchow  had 
in  their  possession.  But  Mr.  Parkes  had  still  more  to  do. 
It  was  his  duty  to  bring  before  the  Chinese  imperial  commis- 
sioners at  the  earliest  possible  moment  the  knowledge  of  this 
flagrant  breach  of  the  convention  he  had  concluded  the  day 
before,  to  demand  its  meaning,  and  to  point  out  the  grave 
consequences  that  must  ensue  from  such  treacherous  hos- 
tility ;  and  in  that  supreme  moment,  as  he  had  done  on  the 
many  other  critical  occasions  of  his  career  in  China — at  Can* 
ton  and  Taku  in  particular  —the  one  thought  in  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Parkes  was  how  best  to  perform  his  duty.  He  did  not 
forget  also  that,  while  he  was  almost  in  a  place  of  safety 
near  the  limits  of  the  Chinese  pickets,  and  not  far  distant 
from  the  advancing  columns  of  Sir  Hope  Grant,  there  were 
other  Englishmen  in  his  rear  possibly  in  immiment  peril  of 
their  lives  amid  the  Celestials  at  Tungchow. 

Mr.  Parkes  rode  back,  therefore,  to  that  town,  and  with 
him  went  one  English  dragoon,  named  Phipps,  and  one 
Sikh  sowar  carrying  a  flag  of  truce  on  his  spear-point.  We 
must  leave  them  for  the  moment  to  follow  the  movements 
of  the  others.  To  Mr.  Loch  was  intrusted  the  task  of  com- 
municating with  Sir  Hope  Grant;  while  the  remainder  of 
the  party  were  to  remain  stationary,  in  order  to  show  the 
Chinese  that  they  did  not  suspect  anything,  and  that  they 
were  full  of  confidence.  Mr.  Loch,  accompanied  by  two 
Sikhs,  rode  at  a  hard  canter  away  from  the  Chinese  liney. 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  377 

He  passed  through  one  body  of  Tartar  cavalry  without  oppo- 
sition, and  reached  the  advanced  guard  of  the  English  force 
in  safety.  To  tell  his  news  was  but  the  work  of  a  minute. 
It  confirmed  the  suspicions  which  General  Grant  had  begun 
to  feel  at  the  movements  of  some  bodies  of  cavalry  on  the 
flank  of  his  line  of  march.  Mr.  Loch  had  performed  his 
share  of  the  arrangement.  He  had  warned  Sir  Hope  Grant. 
But  to  the  chivalrous  mind  duty  is  but  half-performed  if  aid 
is  withheld  from  those  engaged  in  fulfilling  theirs.  What 
he  had  done  had  proved  unexpectedly  easy ;  it  remained  for 
him  to  assist  those  whose  share  was  more  arduous  and  peril- 
ous. So  Mr.  Loch  rode  back  to  the  Chinese  lines,  Captain 
Brabazon  insisting  on  following  him,  again  accompanied 
by  two  Sikhs  but  not  the  same  who  had  ridden  with  him 
before. 

Sir  Hope  Grant  had  given  him  the  assurance  that  unless 
absolutely  forced  to  engage  he  would  postpone  the  action  for 
two  hours.  This  small  party  of  four  men  rode  without  hesi- 
tation, and  at  a  rapid  pace,  through  the  skirmishers  of  the 
Chinese  army.  The  rapidity  of  their  movements  discon- 
certed the  Chinese,  who  allowed  them  to  pass  without  oppo- 
sition and  almost  without  notice.  They  rode  through  the 
streets  of  Chan-chia-wan  without  meeting  with  any  moles- 
tation, although  they  were  crowded  with  the  mustering  men 
of  the  imperial  army.  They  gained  Tungchow  without  let 
or  hinderance,  after  having  passed  through  probably  not  less 
than  30,000  men  about  to  do  battle  with  the  long  hated  and 
now  feared  foreigners.  It  may  have  been,  as  suggested, 
that  they  owed  their  safety  to  a  belief  that  they  were  the 
bearers  of  their  army's  surrender!  Arrived  at  Tungchow, 
Mr.  Loch  found  the  Sikh  escort  at  the  temple  outside  the 
^ates  unaware  of  any  danger — all  the  Englishmen  being 
absent  in  the  town,  where  they  were  shopping — and  a  letter 
left  by  Mr.  Parkes  warning  them  on  return  to  prepare  for 
instant  flight,  and  saying  that  he  was  off  in  search  of  Prince 
Tsai.  In  that  search  he  was  at  last  successful.  He  found 
the  high  commissioner,  he  asked  the  meaning  of  the  change 


378  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

that  had  taken  place,  and  was  told  in  curt  and  defiant  tones 
that  "there  could  be  no  peace,  there  must  be  war." 

The  last  chance  of  averting  hostilities  was  thus  shown  to 
be  in  vain.  Prince  Tsai  indorsed  the  action  of  Sankolinsin. 
Mr.  Parkes  had  only  the  personal  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  he  had  done  everything  he  could  to  prove  that  the  En- 
glish did  not  wish  to  press  their  military  superiority  over  an 
antagonist  whose  knowledge  of  war  was  slight  and  out  of 
date.  He  had  done  this  at  the  greatest  personal  peril.  It 
only  remained  to  secure  his  own  safety  and  that  of  his  com- 
panions. By  this  time  the  whole  party  of  Englishmen  had 
re-assembled  in  the  temple ;  and  Mr.  Loch,  anxious  for  Mr. 
Parkes,  had  gone  into  the  city  and  met  him  galloping  away 
from  the  yamen  of  the  commissioner.  There  was  no  longer 
reason  for  delay.  Not  an  Englishman  had  yet  been  touched, 
but  between  this  small  band  and  safety  lay  the  road  back 
through  the  ranks  of  Sankolinsin's  warriors.  From  Tung- 
chow  to  the  advanced  post  of  Sir  Hope  Grant's  army  was  a 
ten  mile  ride;  and  most  of  the  two  hours'  grace  had  already 
expired.  Could  it  be  done?  By  this  time  most  of  the  Chi- 
nese troops  had  reached  Chan-chia-wan,  where  they  had 
been  drawn  up  in  battle  array  among  the  maize-fields  and 
in  the  nullahs  as  already  described.  From  Tungchow  to 
that  place  the  country  was  almost  deserted ;  and  the  fugi- 
tives proceeded  unmolested  along  the  road  till  they  reached 
that  town.  The  streets  were  crowded  partly  with  armed 
citizens  and  peasants,  but  chiefly  with  panic-stricken  house- 
holders; and  by  this  time  the  horses  were  blown,  and  some 
of  them  almost  exhausted.  Through  this  crowd  the  seven 
Englishmen  and  twenty  Sikhs  walked  their  horses,  and  met 
not  the  least  opposition.  They  reached  the  eastern  side  with- 
out insult  or  injury,  passed  through  the  gates,  and  descend- 
ing the  declivity  found  themselves  in  the  rear  of  the  whole 
Chinese  army.  The  dangers  through  which  they  had  passed 
were  as  nothing  compared  with  those  they  had  now  to  en- 
counter. A  shell  burst  in  the  air  at  this  moment,  followed 
by  the  discharge  of  the  batteries  on  both  sides.     The  battle 


THE  SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  379 

had  begun.     The  promised  two  hours  had  expired.      The 
fugitives  were  some  ten  minutes  too  late. 

The  position  of  this  small  band  in  the  midst  of  an  Asiatic 
army  actually  engaged  in  mortal  combat  with  their  kinsmen 
may  be  better  imagined  than  described.  They  were  riding 
down  the  road  which  passed  through  the  center  of  the  Chi- 
nese  position,  and  the  banks  on  each  side  of  them  were  lined 
with  matchlock-men,  among  whom  the  shells  of  the  English 
guns  were  already  bursting.  Parties  of  cavalry  were  not 
wanting  here,  but  out  in  the  plain  where  the  Tartar  horse- 
men swarmed  in  thousands  the  greatest  danger  of  all  awaited 
them.  Their  movements  were  slow,  painfully  slow,  and  the 
progress  was  delayed  by  the  necessity  of  waiting  for  those 
who  were  the  worst  mounted;  but  they  were  "all  in  the 
same  boat,  and,  like  Englishmen,  would  sink  or  swim  to- 
gether." In  the  accumulation  of  difficulties  that  stared  them 
in  the  face  not  the  least  seemed  to  be  that  they  were  advanc- 
ing in  the  teeth  of  their  own  countrymen's  fire,  which  was 
growing  fiercer  every  minute.  In  this  critical  moment  men 
turned  to  Mr.  Parkes,  and  Captain  Brabazon  expressed  the 
belief  of  those  present  in  a  cool  brave  man  in  arduous  ex- 
tremity when  he  cried  out,  "I  vote  Parkes  decides  what  is  to 
be  done."  To  follow  the  main  road  seemed  to  be  certain 
destruction  and  death  without  the  power  of  resisting;  for 
even  assuming  that  some  of  them  could  have  cut  their  way 
through  the  Tartar  cavalry,  and  escaped  from  the  English 
shell,  they  could  hardly  have  avoided  being  shot  down  by 
the  long  lines  of  matchlock-men  who  were  ready  to  fire  on 
them  the  instant  they  saw  their  backs.  There  was  only  one 
possible  avenue  of  escape,  and  that  was  to  gain  the  right 
flank  of  the  army,  and  endeavor  to  make  their  way  by  a 
detour  round  to  the  English  lines.  Assuredly  this  was  not 
a  very  promising  mode  of  escape,  but  it  seemed  to  have  the 
greatest  chances  of  success.  But  when  the  Chinese,  who 
had  up  to  this  regarded  their  movements  without  interfering, 
saw  this  change  in  their  course,  they  at  once  took  measures 
to  stop  it.     A  military  mandarin  said  if  they  persisted  in 


S80  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

theii  attempt  they  would  be  treated  as  enemies  and  fired 
upon;  but  that  he  was  willing  to  respect  their  flag  of  truce, 
and  that  if  they  would  accompany  him  to  the  general's  pres- 
ence he  would  obtain  a  safe  conduct  for  them.  The  offer 
was  accepted,  partly  no  doubt  because  it  could  not  be  re- 
fused,  but  still  also  on  its  own  merits.  Safe  conducts  during 
the  heat  of  battle,  even  with  civilized  European  peoples,  are, 
however,  not  such  easy  things  either  to  grant  or  to  carry 
out.  Mr.  Parkes  accepted  his  offer,  therefore,  and  he,  Mr. 
Loch,  and  the  Sikh  trooper  Nalsing,  bearing  a  flag  of  truce, 
rode  off  with  the  mandarin  in  search  of  the  general,  while 
the  five  other  Europeans  and  the  Sikh  escort  remained  on 
the  road  awaiting  their  return.  They  proceeded  to  the  left, 
where  it  was  understood  that  Sankolinsin  commanded  in 
person.  They  met  with  some  adventures  even  on  this  short 
journey.  Coming  suddenly  upon  a  large  body  of  infantry, 
they  were  almost  pulled  from  their  horses,  and  would  have 
been  killed  but  for  the  mandarin  rushing  between  them  and 
shouting  to  the  men  "not  to  fire."  A  short  distance  beyond 
this  they  halted,  when  the  approach  of  Sankolinsin  was  an- 
nounced by  loud  shouts  of  his  name  from  the  soldiery.  Mr. 
Parkes  at  once  addressed  him,  saying  that  they  had  come 
under  a  flag  of  truce,  and  that  they  wished  to  regain  their 
army.  The  Chinese  commander  replied  to  his  remarks  on 
the  usages  of  war  in  true  Tartar  fashion — with  laughter  and 
abuse.  The  soldiers  pressed  round  the  unfortunate  English- 
men and  placed  their  matchlocks  against  their  bodies.  Es« 
cape  was  hopeless,  and  death  seemed  inevitable.  But  insult 
was  more  the  object  of  the  Mongol  general  than  their  death. 
They  were  dragged  before  him  and  forced  to  press  the  ground 
with  their  heads  at  the  feet  of  Sankolinsin.  They  were  sub- 
jected to  numerous  other  indignities,  and  at  last,  when  it 
became  evident  that  the  battle  was  going  against  the  Chi- 
nese, they  were  placed  in  one  of  the  country  carts  and  sent 
off  to  Pekin.  While  Mr.  Parkes  and  Mr.  Loch  were  thus 
ill-used,  their  comrades  waiting  on  the  road  had  fared  no 
better.     Shortly  after  their  departure  the  Chinese  soldiers 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  381 

began  to  hustle  and  jeer  at  the  Englishmen  and  their  native 
escort.  As  the  firing  increased  and  some  of  the  Chinese  were 
hit  they  grew  more  violent.  "When  the  news  was  received 
of  what  had  happened  to  Mr.  Parkes,  and  of  how  Sanko- 
linsin  had  laughed  to  scorn  their  claim  to  protection,  the  sol- 
diers could  no  longer  be  restrained.  The  Englishmen  and 
the  natives  were  dragged  from  their  horses,  cruelly  bound, 
and  hurried  to  the  rear,  whence  they  followed  at  no  great 
distance  their  companions  in  misfortune.  While  the  greater 
portion  of  these  events  had  been  in  progress,  Colonel  Walker, 
Mr.  Thompson,  and  the  men  of  the  King's  Dragoon  Guards, 
had  been  steadily  pacing  up  and  down  on  the  embankment 
as  arranged,  in  order  to  show  the  Chinese  that  they  suspected 
no  treachery  and  had  no  f;ears.  They  continued  doing  this 
until  a  French  officer  joined  them ;  but  on  his  getting  into  a 
dispute  with  some  of  the  Chinese  about  his  mule,  he  drew 
his  pistol  and  fired  at  them.  He  was  immediately  killed. 
There  was  then  no  longer  the  least  hope  of  restraining  the 
Chinese,  so  the  whole  of  the  party  spurred  their  horses  and 
escaped  to  the  English  army  under  a  heavy  but  ineffectual 
fire  from  matchlocks  and  gingalls.  Their  flight  was  the 
signal  for  the  commencement  of  the  battle,  although  at  that 
very  moment,  had  they  only  known  it,  the  chief  party  of 
Englishmen  had  gained  the  road  east  of  Chan-chia-wan, 
and,  if  the  battle  had  only  been  delayed  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  they  might  all  have  escaped. 

But  the  two  hours  of  grace  were  up,  and  Sir  Hope  Grant 
saw  no  further  use  in  delay.  General  Montauban  was  still 
more  impatient,  and  the  men  were  eager  to  engage.  They 
had  to  win  their  camping-ground  that  night,  and  the  day 
was  already  far  advanced.  The  French  occupied  the  right 
wing,  that  is  the  position  opposite  the  spot  where  we  have 
seen  Sankolinsin  commanding  in  person,  and  a  squadron  of 
Fane's  Horse  had  been  lent  them  to  supply  their  want  of 
cavalry.  The  battle  began  with  the  fire  of  their  batteries, 
which  galled  the  Chinese  so  much  that  the  Tartar  cavalry 
were  ordered  up  to  charge  the  guns,  and  right  gallantly  they 


382  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF    CHINA. 

did  so.  A  battery  was  almost  in  their  hands,  its  officers  had 
to  use  their  revolvers,  when  the  Sikhs  and  a  few  French 
dragoons,  led  by  Colonel  Foley,  the  English  commissioner 
with  the  French  force,  gallantly  charged  them  in  turn,  and 
compelled  them  to  withdraw.  Neither  side  derived  much 
advantage  from  this  portion  of  the  contest,  but  the  repulse 
of  the  Tartar  cavalry  enabled  the  French  guns  to  renew  theii 
fire  with  great  effect  on  the  line  of  Chinese  infantry.  While 
the  French  were  thus  engaged  on  the  right,  the  English 
troops  had  begun  a  vigorous  attack  on  both  the  center  and 
their  left.  The  Chinese  appeared  in  such  dense  masses,  and 
maintained  so  vigorous,  but  fortunately  so  ill-directed,  a  fire, 
that  the  English  force  made  but  little  progress  at  either 
point.  The  action  might  have  been  indefinitely  prolonged 
and  left  undecided,  had  not  Sir  Hope  Grant  suddenly  re- 
solved to  re-enforce  his  left  with  a  portion  of  his  center,  and 
to  assail  the  enemy's  right  vigorously.  This  latter  part  of 
the  battle  began  with  a  charge  of  some  squadrons  of  Probyn's 
Horse  against  the  bodies  of  mounted  Tartars  moving  in  the 
plain,  whom  they,  with  their  gallant  leader  at  their  head, 
routed  in  the  sight  of  the  two  armies.  This  overthrow  of 
their  chosen  fighting-men  greatly  discouraged  the  rest  of  the 
Chinese  soldiers,  and  when  the  infantry  advanced  with  the 
Sikhs  in  front  they  slowly  began  to  give  ground.  But  even 
then  there  were  none  of  the  usual  symptoms  of  a  decisive  vic- 
tory. The  French  were  so  exhausted  by  their  efforts  that 
they  had  been  compelled  to  halt,  and  General  Montauban  was 
obliged  to  curb  his  natural  impetuosity,  and  to  admit  that 
he  could  take  no  part  in  the  final  attack  on  Chan-chia-wan. 
Sir  Hope  Grant,  however,  pressed  on  and  occupied  the  town. 
He  did  not  call  in  his  men  until  they  had  seized  without  re- 
sistance a  large  camp  about  one  mile  west  of  the  town,  where 
they  captured  several  guns.  Thus  ended  the  battle  of  Chan- 
chia-wan  with  the  defeat  and  retreat  of  the  strong  army 
which  Sankolinsin  had  raised  in  order  to  drive  the  barbarians 
into  the  sea. 

Although  the  battle  was  won,  Sir  Hope  Grant,  measuring 


THE  SECOND   FOREIGN    WAR.  383 

the  resistance  with  the  eye  of  an  experienced  soldier,  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  his  force  was  not  sufficiently  strong 
to  overawe  so  obstinate  a  foe;  and  accordingly  ordered  Sir 
Robert  Napier  to  join  him  with  as  many  troops  as  he  could 
spare  from  the  Tientsin  garrison.  Having  thus  provided  for 
the  arrival  of  re-enforcements  at  an  early  date,  he  was  will- 
ing to  resume  his  onward  march  for  Tungchow,  where  it 
was  hoped  some  tidings  would  be  obtained  of  the  missing 
officers  and  men.  Two  days  intervened  before  any  decisive 
move  was  made,  but  Mr.  "Wade  was  sent  under  a  flag  of 
truce  into  Tungchow  to  collect  information.  But  he  failed 
to  learn  anything  more  about  Mr.  Parkes  than  that  he  had 
quitted  the  town  in  safety  after  his  final  interview  with 
Prince  Tsai.  Lord  Elgin  now  hastened  up  from  Hosiwu  to 
join  the  military  headquarters,  and  on  September  21,  the 
French  having  been  joined  by  another  brigade,  offensive 
operations  were  recommenced.  The  delay  had  encouraged 
the  Chinese  to  make  another  stand,  and  they  had  collected 
in  considerable  force  for  the  defense  of  the  Palikao  bridge, 
which  affords  the  means  of  crossing  the  Peiho  west  of  Tung- 
chow. Here  again  the  battle  commenced  with  a  cavalry 
charge  which,  despite  an  accident  that  might  have  had  more 
serious  results,  was  completely  successful.  This  achieve- 
ment was  followed  up  by  the  attack  on  several  fortified  posi- 
tions which  were  not  defended  with  any  great  amount  of 
resolution,  and  while  these  matters  were  in  progress  on  the 
side  where  the  English  were  engaged,  the  French  had  car- 
ried the  bridge  with  its  twenty-five  guns  in  position  in  very 
gallant  style.  The  capture  of  this  bridge  and  the  dispersion 
of  the  troops,  including  the  Imperial  Guard,  which  had  been 
intrusted  with  its  defense,  completed  the  discomfiture  of  the 
Chinese.  Pekin  itself  lay  almost  at  the  mercy  of  the  in- 
vader, and,  unless  diplomacy  could  succeed  better  than 
arms,  nothing  would  prevent  the  hated  foreigners  violat- 
ing its  privacy  not  merely  with  their  presence,  but  in  the 
most  unpalatable  guise  of  armed  victors. 

The  day  after  the  battle  at  the  Palikao  bridge  came  a 


584  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHIXA. 

letter  from  Prince  Kung  the  emperor's  next  brother,  stating 
that  Prince  Tsai  and  his  colleagues  had  not  managed  matters 
satisfactorily,  and  that  he  had  been  appointed  with  plenipo- 
tentiary powers  for  the  discussion  and  decision  of  the  peace 
question.  But  the  prince  went  on  to  request  a  temporary 
suspension  of  hostilities — a  demand  with  which  no  general 
or  embassador  could  have  complied  so  long  as  officers  were 
detained  who  had  been  seized  in  violation  of  the  usages  of 
war.  Lord  Elgin  replied  in  the  clearest  terms  that  there 
could  be  no  negotiations  for  peace  until  these  prisoners  were 
restored,  and  that  if  they  were  not  sent  back  in  safety  the 
consequences  would  be  most  serious  for  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment. But  even  at  this  supreme  moment  of  doubt  and  dan- 
ger, the  subtlety  of  Chinese  diplomacy  would  have  free  play. 
Prince  Kung  was  young  in  years  and  experience,  but  his 
finesse  would  have  done  credit  to  a  gray-haired  statesman. 
Unfortunately  for  him,  the  question  had  got  beyond  the 
stage  for  discussion:  the  English  embassador  had  stated 
the  one  condition  on  which  negotiations  would  be  renewed, 
and  until  that  had  been  complied  with  there  was  no  need 
to  give  ear  to  the  threats,  promises  and  entreaties  even  of 
Prince  Kung.  As  the  prince  gave  no  sign  of  yielding  this 
point  during  the  week's  delay  in  bringing  up  the  second 
division  from  Tientsin,  Lord  Elgin  requested  Sir  Hope 
Grant  to  resume  his  march  on  Pekin,  from  which  Hie  ad- 
vanced guard  of  the  allied  forces  was  distant  little  more 
than  ten  miles.  The  cavalry  had  reconnoitered  almost  up 
to  the  gates,  and  had  returned  with  the  report  that  the  walls 
were  strong  and  in  good  condition.  The  danger  to  a  small 
army  of  attempting  to  occupy  a  great  city  of  the  size  and 
population  of  Pekin  is  almost  obvious;  and,  moreover,  the 
consistent  policy  of  the  English  authorities  had  been  to  cause 
the  Chinese  people  as  little  injury  and  suffering  as  possible. 
Should  an  attack  on  the  city  become  unavoidable,  it  was  de- 
cided that  the  point  attacked  should  be  the  Tartar  quarter, 
including  the  palace,  which  occupied  the  northern  half  of  the 
city.     By  this  time  it  had  become  known  that  Parkes  and 


THE   SECOND    FOREIGN    WAR.  385 

Loch  were  living,  that  they  were  confined  in  the  Kaou 
Meaou  Temple,  near  the  Tehshun  Gate,  and  that  latterly 
they  had  been  fairly  well  treated. 

In  execution  of  the  plan  of  attack  that  had  been  agreed 
upon,  the  allied  forces  marched  round  Pekin  to  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  walls,  having  as  their  object  the  Summer 
Palace  of  the  emperor  at  Yuen  Min  Yuen,  not  quite  four 
miles  distant  from  the  city. 

On  the  approach  of  the  foreign  army,  Hienfung  fled  in 
terror  from  his  palace,  and  sought  shelter  at  Jehol,  the  hunt- 
ing residence  of  the  emperors  beyond  the  Wall.  His  flight 
was  most  precipitate;  and  the  treasures  of  the  Summer  Pal- 
ace were  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  Western  spoilers.  The 
French  soldiers  had  made  the  most  of  the  start  they  had  ob- 
tained, and  left  comparatively  little  for  their  English  com- 
rades, who,  moreover,  were  restrained  by  the  bonds  of  a 
stricter  discipline.  But  the  amount  of  prize  property  that 
remained  was  still  considerable,  and,  by  agreement  between 
the  two  generals,  it  was  divided  in  equal  shares  between  the 
armies.  The  capture  and  occupation  of  the  Summer  Palace 
completed  the  European  triumph,  and  obliged  Prince  Kung 
to  promptly  acquiesce  in  Lord  Elgin's  demand  for  the  imme- 
diate surrender  of  the  prisoners,  if  he  wished  to  avoid  the  far 
greater  calamity  of  a  foreign  occupation  of  the  Tartar  quar- 
ter of  Pekin  and  the  appropriation  of  its  vaster  collection  of 
treasures. 

On  October  6  Mr.  Parkes  wrote  from  his  place  of  confine- 
ment that  the  French  and  English  detained  were  to  be  re- 
turned on  the  8th  of  the  month,  and  that  the  imperial  com- 
manders had  been  ordered  at  the  same  time  to  retire  for  a 
considerable  distance  from  Pekin.  These  promises  were  car- 
ried out.  Prince  Kung  was  at  last  resolved  to  make  all  the 
concessions  requisite  to  insure  the  speedy  conclusion  of  peace. 
The  restoration  of  these  captives  removed  what  was  thought 
to  be  the  one  obstacle  to  Lord  Elgin's  discussing  the  terms  on 
which  the  invading  force  would  retire  and  to  the  respective 
governments  resuming  diplomatic  relations.      It  waa  fort* 

17 


336  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

unate  for  China  that  the  exact  fate  of  the  other  prisoners 
was  unknown,  and  that  Lord  Elgin  felt  able,  in  consequence 
of  the  more  friendly  proceedings  of  Prince  Kung,  to  overlook 
the  earlier  treatment  of  those  now  returned  to  him,  for  the 
narrative  of  Mr.  Parkes  and  his  fellow  prisoners  was  one 
that  tended  to  heighten  the  feeling  of  indignation  at  the 
original  breach  of  faith.  To  say  that  they  were  barbarously 
ill-used  is  to  employ  a  phrase  conveying  a  very  inadequate 
idea  of  the  numerous  indignities  and  the  cruel  personal  treat- 
ment to  which  they  were  subjected.  Under  these  great 
trials  neither  of  these  intrepid  Englishmen  wavered  in  their 
refusal  to  furnish  any  information  or  to  make  any  concession 
compromising  their  country.  Mr.  Loch's  part  was  in  one 
sense  the  more  easy,  as  his  ignorance  of  the  language  pre- 
vented his  replying,  but  in  bodily  suffering  he  had  to  pay 
a  proportionately  greater  penalty.  The  incidents  of  their 
imprisonment  afford  the  most  creditable  testimony  to  the 
superiority  which  the  pride  of  race  as  well  as  "the  equal 
mind  in  arduous  circumstance"  gives  weak  humanity  over 
physical  suffering.  They  are  never  likely  to  pass  out  of  the 
public  memory;  and  those  who  remember  the  daring  and 
the  chivalry  which  had  inspired  Mr.  Parkes  and  Mr.  Loch 
on  the  day  when  Prince  Tsai's  treachery  and  Sankolinsin's 
mastery  were  revealed,  will  not  be  disposed  to  consider  it 
exaggerated  praise  to  say  that,  for  an  adventure  so  honor- 
ably conceived  and  so  nobly  carried  out,  where  the  risk  was 
never  reckoned  and  where  the  penalty  was  so  patiently 
borne,  the  pages  of  history  may  be  searched  almost  in  vain 
for  an  event  that,  in  the  dramatic  elements  of  courage  and 
suffering,  presents  such  a  complete  and  consistent  record  of 
human  gallantry  and  devotion  as  the  capture  and  subse- 
quent captivity  of  these  English  gentlemen  and  their  Sikh 
companion. 

The  further  conditions  as  preliminary  to  the  ratification 
of  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin  were  gradually,  if  reluctantly, 
complied  with.  On  October  13  the  northeast  gate  was 
handed  over  to  the  allied   troops,  but  not  before  Sir  Hope 


THE  SECOND    FOREIGN   WAR.  387 

Grant  had  threatened  to  open  fire  on  the  walls.  At  the 
same  time  Prince  Kung  returned  eight  sowars  of  Fane's 
Horse  and  one  Frenchman,  ail  the  survivors,  besides  those 
already  surrendered,  of  the  small  band  which  had  ridden 
from  Tungchow  nearly  a  month  before.  The  Chinese  prince 
stated  in  explanation  that  "a  certain  number  were  missing 
after  the  fight,  or  have  died  of  their  wounds  or  of  sickness." 
But  the  narrative  of  the  Sikhs  was  decisive  as  to  the  fate  of 
the  five  Englishmen  and  their  own  comrades.  They  had 
been  brutally  bound  with  ropes  which,  although  drawn  as 
tight  as  human  force  could  draw  them,  were  tightened  still 
more  by  cold  water  being  poured  upon  the  bands,  and  they 
had  been  maltreated  in  every  form  by  a  cruel  enemy,  and 
provided  only  with  food  of  the  most  loathsome  kind.  Some 
of  the  prisoners  were  placed  in  cages.  Lieutenant;  Anderson, 
a  gallant  young  officer  for  whom  future  renown  had  been 
predicted,  became  delirious  and  died  on  the  ninth  day  of  his 
confinement.  Mr.  De  Neumann  died  a  week  later.  What 
fate  befell  Captain  Barbazon  and  his  French  companion,  the 
Abbe  de  Luc,  is  uncertain,  but  the  evidence  on  the  subject 
inclines  us  to  accept  as  accurate  the  statement  that  the  Chi- 
nese commander  in  the  fight  at  Palikao,  enraged  at  his 
defeat,  caused  them  to  be  executed  on  the  bridge.  The  sol" 
dier  Phipps  endured  for  a  longer  time  than  Mr.  Bowlby  the 
taunts  and  ill-usage  of  their  jailers,  but  they  at  last  shared 
the  same  fate,  dying  from  the  effects  of  their  ill-treatment. 
The  bodies  of  all  the  Englishmen,  with  the  exception  of  Cap- 
tain Barbazon,  were  restored,  and  of  most  of  the  Sikhs  also. 
The  Chinese  officials  were  more  barbarous  in  their  cruelty 
than  even  the  worst  scum  among  their  malefactors;  for  the 
prisoners  in  the  jails,  far  from  adding  to  the  tortures  of  the 
unfortunate  Europeans,  did  everything  in  their  power  to 
mitigate  their  sufferings,  alleviate  their  pains,  and  supply 
their  wants. 

The  details  of  these  cruel  deeds  raised  a  feeling  of  great 
horror  in  men's  minds,  and,  although  the  desire  to  arrange 
the  question  of  peace  without  delay  was  uppermost  with 


888  A    SHORT  HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

Lord  Elgin,  still  it  was  felt  that  some  grave  step  was  neces- 
sary to  express  the  abhorrence  with  which  England  regarded 
this  cruel  and  senseless  outrage,  and  to  bring  home  to  the 
Chinese  people  and  government  the  fact  that  Englishmen 
could  not  be  murdered  with  impunity.  Lord  Elgin  refused 
to  hold  any  further  intercourse  with  the  Chinese  government 
until  this  great  crime  had  been  purged  by  some  signal  pun- 
ishment. Sir  Hope  Grant  and  he  had  little  difficulty  in 
arriving  at  the  decision  that  the  best  mode  of  expiation  was 
to  destroy  the  Summer  Palace.  The  French  commander 
refused  to  participate  in  the  act  which  carried  a  permanent 
lesson  of  political  necessity  to  the  heart  of  the  Pekin  govern- 
ment, and  which  did  more  than  any  other  incident  of  the 
campaign  to  show  Hienfung  that  the  hour  had  gone  by  for 
trifling.  On  October  18  the  threat  was  carried  into  exe- 
cution. The  Summer  Palace  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and 
the  sum  of  $500,000  was  demanded  and  obtained  from  the 
Chinese  as  some  compensation  for  the  families  of  the  mur- 
dered men.  The  palace  of  Yuen  Min  Yuen  had  been  the 
scene  of  some  of  the  worst  sufferings  of  the  English  pris- 
oners. From  its  apartments  the  high  mandarins  and  the 
immediate  courtiers  of  the  emperor  had  gloated  over  and 
enjoyed  the  spectacle  of  their  foreign  prisoners'  agony.  The 
whole  of  Pekin  witnessed  in  return  the  destruction  wrought 
to  the  sovereign's  abode  by  the  indignant  English,  and  the 
clouds  of  smoke  hung  for  days  like  a  vast  black  pall  over 
the  city. 

That  act  of  severe  but  just  vengeance  consummated,  the 
negotiations  for  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  were  resumed. 
The  Hall  of  Ceremonies  was  selected  as  the  place  in  which 
the  ratifying  act  should  be  performed,  while,  as  some  pun- 
ishment for  the  hostile  part  he  had  played,  the  palace  of 
Prince  Tsai  was  appropriated  as  the  temporary  official  resi- 
dence of  Lord  Elgin  and  Baron  Gros.  The  formal  act  of 
ratification  was  performed  in  this  building  on  October  24. 
Lord  Elgin  proceeded  in  a  chair  of  state,  accompanied 
by  his  suite,  and  also  by  Sir   Hope  Grant  with  an  escort 


THE   SECOND    F0RE1G?*     WAR.  38? 

of  100  officers  and  500  troops,  through  the  streets  from  the 
Anting  Gate  to  the  Hall  of  Ceremonies.  Prince  Kung, 
attended  by  a  large  body  of  civil  and  military  mandarins, 
was  there  in  readiness  to  produce  the  imperial  edict  author* 
Izing  him  to  attach  the  emperor's  seal  to  the  treaty,  and  to 
accept  the  responsibility  for  his  country  of  conforming  witt 
its  terms  and  carrying  out  its  stipulations.  Some  further 
delay  was  caused  by  the  necessity  of  waiting  until  the  *»dict 
should  be  received  from  the  emperor  at  Jehol  authorizing  the 
publication  of  the  treaty,  not  the  least  important  point  ir 
connection  with  its  conclusion  if  the  millions  of  China  were 
to  understand  and  perform  what  their  rulers  had  promised 
for  them.  That  closing  act  was  successfully  achieved,  and 
more  rapidly  than  had  been  expected.  The  Pekinese  beheld 
English  troops  and  officers  in  residence  in  their  midst  for 
the  first  time,  and  when  the  army  was  withdrawn  and  the 
plenipotentiary,  Lord  Elgin,  transferred  to  his  brother,  Mr. 
Frederick  Bruce,  the  charge  of  affairs  in  China  as  Resident 
Minister,  the  ice  had  been  broken  in  the  relations  between 
the  officials  of  the  two  countries,  and  the  greatest,  if  not  the 
last,  barrier  of  Chinese  exclusiveness  had  been  removed. 
The  last  of  the  allied  troops  turned  their  backs  upon  Pekin 
on  November  9,  and  the  greater  portion  of  the  expe- 
dition departed  for  India  and  Europe  just  before  the  cold 
weather  set  in.  A  few  days  later  the  rivers  were  froaen  and 
navigation  had  become  impossible,  which  showed  how  nar- 
row was  the  margin  left  for  the  completion  of  the  operations 
of  war. 

The  object  which  the  more  far-seeing  of  the  English 
residents  had  from  the  first  hour  of  difficulty  stated  to  be 
necessary  for  satisfactory  relations — direct  intercourse  with 
the  Pekin  government — was  thus  obtained  after  a  keen  and 
bitter  struggle  of  thirty  years.  Although  vanquished,  the 
Chinese  may  be  said  to  have  come  out  of  this  war  with  an 
increased  military  reputation.  The  war  closed  with  a  treaty 
enforcing  all  the  concessions  made  by  its  predecessor.  The 
right  to  station  an  embassador  in  Pekin  signified  that  the 


390  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

greatest  barrier  of  all  had  been  broken  down ;  the  old  school 
of  politicians  were  put  completely  out  of  court,  and  a  young 
and  intelligent  prince,  closely  connected  with  the  emperor, 
assumed  the  personal  charge  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
country.  As  one  who  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  mis- 
fortunes of  his  countrymen,  Prince  Kung  was  the  more  dis- 
posed to  adhere  to  what  he  had  promised  to  perform.  Under 
his  direction  the  ratified  Treaty  of  Tientsin  became  a  bond  of 
union  instead  of  an  element  of  discord  between  the  cabinets 
of  London  and  Pekin ;  and  a  termination  was  put,  by  an  ar- 
rangement carried  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  to  the  constant 
friction  and  recrimination  which  had  been  the  prevailing 
characteristics  of  the  intercourse  for  a  whole  generation. 
The  Chinese  had  been  subjected  to  a  long  and  bitter  lesson. 
They  had  at  last  learned  the  virtue  of  submitting  to  neces- 
sity ;  but  although  they  have  profited  to  some  extent  both  in 
peace  and  war  by  their  experience,  it  requires  some  assur- 
ance to  declare  that  they  have  even  now  accepted  the  inevi- 
table. That  remains  the  problem  of  the  future;  but  in  1860 
Prince  Kung  came  to  the  sensible  conclusion  that  for  that 
period,  and  until  China  had  recovered  from  her  internal  con- 
fusion, there  was  nothing  to  be  gained  and  much  to  be  lost 
by  protracted  resistance  to  the  peoples  of  the  West.  What- 
ever could  be  retained  by  tact  and  finesse  were  to  form  part 
of  the  natural  rights  of  China ;  but  the  privileges  only  to  be 
asserted  in  face  of  Armstrong  guns  and  rifles  were  to  bo 
abandoned  with  as  good  a  grace  as  the  injured  feeling  of  a 
nation  can  ever  display. 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE    TAEPING    REBELLION 

We  Jeft  the  Taepings  supreme  at  Nankin,  but  maintain- 
ing themselves  there  with  some  difficulty  against  two  im- 
perial armies  raised  by  the  loyal  efforts  of  the  inhabitants  of 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  391 

the  central  provinces.  This  was  at  the  beginning  of  1857; 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  if  the  government  had  avoided  a 
conflict  with  the  Europeans,  and  concentrated  its  efforts  and 
power  on  the  contest  with  the  Taeping  rebels,  they  would 
have  speedily  annihilated  the  tottering  fabric  of  Tien  Wang's 
authority.  But  the  respite  of  four  years  secured  by  the 
attention  of  the  central  government  being  monopolized  by 
the  foreign  question  enabled  the  Taepings  to  consolidate  their 
position,  augment  their  fighting  forces,  and  present  a  more 
formidable  front  to  the  imperial  authorities.  When  Prince 
Kung  learned  from  Lord  Elgin  the  full  extent  of  the  success 
of  the  Taepings  on  the  Yangtse,  of  which  the  officials  at 
Pekin  seemed  to  possess  a  very  imperfect  and  inaccurate 
knowledge,  the  Manchu  authorities  realized  that  it  was  a 
vital  question  for  them  to  reassert  their  authority  without 
further  delay,  but  on  beginning  to  put  their  new  resolve  into 
practice  they  soon  experienced  that  the  position  of  the  Tae- 
pings in  1861  differed  materially  from  what  it  was  in  1857. 
The  course  of  events  during  that  period  must  be  briefly 
summarized.  In  1858  the  imperialists  under  Tseng  Kwofan 
and  Chang  Kwoliang  renewed  the  siege  of  Nankin,  but  as 
the  city  was  well  supplied  with  provisions,  and  as  the  impe- 
rialists were  well  known  to  have  no  intention  of  delivering 
an  assault,  the  Taepings  did  not  feel  any  apprehension. 
After  the  investment  had  continued  for  nearly  a  year,  Chung 
Wang,  who  had  now  risen  to  the  supreme  place  among  the 
rebels,  insisted  on  quitting  the  city  before  it  was  completely 
surrounded,  with  the  object  of  beating  up  levies  and  gener- 
ally relieving  the  pressure  caused  by  the  besiegers.  In  this 
endeavor  he  more  than  once  experienced  the  unkindness  of 
fortune,  for  when  he  had  collected  5,000  good  troops  he  was 
defeated  in  a  vigorous  attempt  to  cut  his  way  through  a  far 
larger  imperial  force.  Such,  however,  was  his  reputation 
that  the  imperial  commanders  before  Nankin  sent  many  of 
their  men  to  assist  the  officers  operating  against  him,  and 
Chung  Wang,  seizing  the  opportunity,  made  his  way  by 
forced  marches  back  to  Nankin,  overcoming  such  resistance 


392  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

as  the  enfeebled  besiegers  were  able  to  offer.  The  whole  of 
the  year  1859  was  passed  in  practical  inaction,  but  at  its 
close  the  Taepings  only  retained  possession  of  four  towns, 
besides  Nankin,  on  the  Yangtse.  It  again  became  necessary 
for  Chung  Wang  to  sally  forth  and  assume  the  offensive  in 
the  rear  and  on  the  line  of  supplies  of  the  beleaguering  im- 
perialists. His  main  difficulty  was  in  obtaining  the  consent 
of  Tien  Wang,  who  was  at  this  time  given  over  to  religious 
pursuits  or  private  excesses,  and  Chung  Wang  states  that 
he  only  consented  when  he  found  that  he  could  not  stop  him. 
In  January,  1860,  Chung  Wang  began  what  proved  to  be  a 
very  remarkable  campaign.  He  put  his  men  in  good  humor 
by  distributing  a  large  sum  of  money  among  them,  and  he 
succeeded  in  eluding  the  imperial  commanders  and  in  mis- 
leading them  as  to  his  intentions.  While  they  thought  he 
had  gone  off  to  relieve  Ganking,  he  had  really  hastened  to 
attack  the  important  city  of  Hangchow,  where  much  spoil 
and  material  for  carrying  on  the  war  might  be  secured  by 
the  victor.  He  captured  the  city  with  little  or  no  loss,  on 
March  19,  1860,  but  the  Tartar  city  held  out  until  relieved 
by  Chang  Kwoliang,  who  hastened  from  Nankin  for  the 
purpose.  Once  again  the  imperial  commanders  in  their 
anxiety  to  crush  Chung  Wang  had  reduced  their  force  in 
front  of  Nankin  to  an  excessively  low  condition,  and  the 
Taeping  leader,  placed  in  a  desperate  position,  seized  the 
only  chance  of  safety  by  hastening  from  Hangchow  to  Nan- 
kin at  full  speed,  and  attacking  the  imperial  lines.  Thia 
battle  was  fought  early  in  the  morning  of  a  cold  snowy  day 
— May  3,  1860— and  resulted  in  the  loss  of  5,000  imperialists, 
and  the  compulsory  raising  of  the  siege.  The  Taeping  cause 
might  have  been  resuscitated  by  this  signal  victory  if  Tien 
Wang  had  only  shown  himself  able  to  act  up  to  the  great 
part  he  assumed,  but  not  merely  was  he  incapable  of  playing 
the  part  of  either  a  warrior  or  a  statesman,  but  his  petty 
jealousy  prevented  his  making  use  of  the  undoubted  ability 
of  his  lieutenant  Chung  Wang,  who  after  the  greatest  of  his 
successes  was  forbidden  to  re-enter  Nankin. 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  39* 

The  energy  and  spirit  of  Chung  Wang  impelled  him  to 
fresh  enterprises,  and  seeing  the  hopelessness  of  Tien  Wang, 
he  determined  to  secure  a  base  of  operations  for  himself, 
which  should  enable  him  to  hold  his  own  in  the  warring 
strife  of  the  realm,  and  perhaps  to  achieve  the  triumph  of 
the  cause  with  which  he  was  associated.  It  says  much  for 
his  military  energy  and  skill  that  he  was  able  to  impart  new 
vigor  to  the  Taeping  system,  and  to  sustain  on  a  new  field 
his  position  single-handed  against  the  main  forces  of  the 
empire.  He  determined  to  obtain  possession  of  the  impor- 
tant city  of  Soochow,  on  the  Grand  Canal,  and  not  very  far 
distant  from  Shanghai.  On  his  way  to  effect  this  object  he 
gained  a  great  victory  over  Chang  Kwoliang,  who  was  him- 
self killed  in  the  battle.  As  the  ex-Triad  chief  possessed 
great  energy,  his  loss  was  a  considerable  one  for  the  govern- 
ment, but  his  troops  continued  to  oppose  the  advance  of  the 
Taepings,  and  fought  and  lost  three  battles  before  Chung 
Wang  reached  Soochow.  That  place  was  too  large  to  be 
successfully  defended  by  a  small  force,  and  the  imperialists 
hastily  abandoned  it.  At  this  critical  moment — May,  1860 
— Ho  Kweitsin,  the  viceroy  of  the  Two  Kiang,  implored  the 
aid  of  the  English  and  French,  who  were  at  this  moment 
completing  their  arrangements  for  the  march  on  Pekin, 
against  these  rebels,  and  the  French  were  so  far  favorable 
to  the  suggestion  that  they  offered  to  render  the  assistance 
provided  the  English  would  combine  with  them.  Mr.  Bruce, 
however,  declined  the  adventure,  which  is  not  surprising, 
considering  that  we  were  then  engaged  in  serious  hostilities 
with  the  Chinese,  but  the  incident  remains  unique  of  a 
country  asking  another  for  assistance  during  the  progress 
of  a  bitter  and  doubtful  war.  The  utmost  that  Mr.  Bruce 
would  do  was  to  issue  a  notification  that  Shanghai  would 
not  be  allowed  to  again  fall  into  the  hands  of  an  insurgent 
force.  The  viceroy  who  solicited  the  aid  was  at  least  con- 
sistent. He  memorialized  the  Throne,  praying  that  the  de- 
mands of  the  Europeans  should  be  promptly  granted,  and 
that  they  should  then  be  employed  against  the  Taepings. 


894  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA 

His  memorial  was  ill-timed.  He  was  summoned  to  Pekin 
and  executed  for  his  very  prudent  advice.  With  the  posses- 
sion of  Soochow,  Chung  Wang  obtained  fresh  supplies  of 
money,  material,  and  men,  and  once  more  it  was  impossible 
to  say  to  what  height  of  success  the  Taepings  might  not 
attain.  But  Chung  Wang  was  not  satisfied  with  Soochow 
alone ;  he  wished  to  gain  possession  of  Shanghai. 

Unfortunately  for  the  realization  of  his  project,  the  Eu- 
ropeans had  determined  to  defend  Shanghai  at  all  hazards, 
but  Chung  Wang  believed  either  that  they  would  not,  or 
that  their  army  being  absent  in  the  north  they  had  not  the 
power  to  carry  out  this  resolve.  The  necessity  of  capturing 
Shanghai  was  rendered  the  greater  in  the  eyes  of  Chung 
Wang  by  its  being  the  base  of  hostile  measures  against  him- 
self, and  by  a  measure  which  threatened  him  with  a  new 
peril.  The  wealthy  Chinese  merchants  of  Shanghai  had 
formed  a  kind  of  patriotic  association,  and  provided  the 
funds  for  raising  a  European  contingent.  Two  Americans, 
Ward  and  Burgevine,  were  taken  into  their  pay,  and  in 
July,  1860,  they,  having  raised  a  force  of  100  Europeans 
and  200  Manila  men,  began  operations  with  an  attack  on 
Sunkiang,  a  large  walled  town  about  twenty  miles  from 
Shanghai.  This  first  attack  was  repulsed  with  some  loss, 
but  Ward,  afraid  of  losing  the  large  reward  he  was  promised 
for  its  capture,  renewed  the  attack,  and  with  better  success, 
for  he  gained  possession  of  a  gate,  and  held  it  until  the 
whole  imperial  army  had  come  up  and  stormed  the  town. 
After  this  success  Ward  was  requested  to  attack  Tsingpu, 
which  was  a  far  stronger  place  than  Sunkiang,  and  where 
the  Taepings  had  the  benefit  of  the  advice  and  leading  of 
several  Englishmen  who  had  joined  them.  Ward  attacked 
Tsingpu  on  August  2,  1860,  but  he  was  repulsed  with  heavy 
loss.  He  returned  to  Shanghai  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
another  force  and  two  larger  guns,  and  then  renewed  the 
attack.  It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  the  place  would 
have  held  out  or  not,  but  after  seven  days'  bombardment 
Chung  Wang  suddenly  appeared  to  the  rescue,  and,  surpris- 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  395 

ing  "Ward's  force,  drove  it  away  in  utter  confusion,  and  with 
the  loss  of  all  its  guns  and  stores.  Encouraged  by  this  suc- 
cess, Chung  "Wang  then  thought  the  time  opportune  for 
attacking  Shanghai,  and  he  accordingly  marched  against  it, 
burning  and  plundering  the  villages  along  the  road.  The 
imperialists  had  established  a  camp  or  stockade  outside  the 
western  gate,  and  Chung  Wang  carried  this  without  any 
difficulty,  but  when  he  reached  the  walls  of  the  town  he 
found  a  very  different  opponent  in  his  path.  The  walls  were 
lined  with  English  and  French  troops,  and  when  the  Tae- 
pings  attempted  to  enter  the  city  they  were  received  with 
a  warm  fire,  which  quickly  sent  them  to  the  right-about. 
Chung  Wang  renewed  the  attack  at  different  points  during 
the  next  four  or  five  days,  but  he  was  then  obliged  to  retreat. 
Before  doing  so,  however,  he  sent  a  boasting  message  that 
he  had  come  at  the  invitation  of  the  French,  who  were  trai- 
tors, and  that  he  would  have  taken  the  city  but  for  the  for- 
eigners, as  "there  was  no  city  which  his  men  could  not 
storm."  At  this  moment  the  attention  of  Chung  Wang  was 
called  off  to  Nankin,  which  the  imperialists  were  investing 
for  a  sixth  time,  under  Tseng  Kwofan,  who  had  been  ele- 
vated to  the  viceroyalty  of  the  Two  Kiang.  Tien  Wang,  in 
despair,  sent  off  an  urgent  summons  to  Chung  Wang  to 
come  to  his  assistance,  and  although  he  went  with  reluctance 
he  felt  that  he  had  no  course  but  to  obey. 

Having  done  what  he  could  to  place  Nankin  in  an  efficient 
state  of  defense,  Chung  Wang  hastened  back  to  Soochow  to 
resume  active  operations.  It  is  unnecessary  to  describe  these 
in  detail ;  but  although  Chung  Wang  was  twice  defeated  by 
a  Manchu  general  named  Paochiaou,  he  succeeded,  by  ra- 
pidity of  movement,  in  holding  his  own  against  his  more 
numerous  adversaries.  In  the  meantime  an  important 
change  had  taken  place  in  the  situation.  The  peace  between 
China  and  the  foreign  powers  compelled  a  revision  of  the 
position  at  Shanghai.  Admiral  Hope  sailed  up  to  Nankin, 
interviewed  the  Wangs,  and  exacted  from  them  a  pledge 
that  Shanghai  should  not  be  attacked  for  twelve  months, 


<i96  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

and  that  the  Taeping  forces  should  not  advance  within  a 
radius  of  thirty  miles  of  that  place.  In  consequence  of  this 
arrangement  Ward  and  Burgevine  were  compelled  to  desist 
from  recruiting  Europeans;  but  after  a  brief  interval  they 
were  taken  into  the  Chinese  service  for  the  purpose  of  drill- 
ing Chinese  soldiers,  a  measure  from  which  the  most  impor- 
tant consequences  were  to  flow,  for  it  proved  to  be  the  origin 
of  the  Ever- Victorious  Army.  These  preparations  were  not 
far  advanced  when  Chung  Wang,  elated  by  his  capture  of 
Ningpo  and  Hangchow,  resolved  to  disregard  Tien  Wang's 
promise,  and  make  a  second  attack  on  Shanghai,  the  posses- 
sion of  which  he  saw  to  be  indispensable  if  his  cause  was  to 
attain  any  brilliant  triumph.  He  issued  a  proclamation  that 
"the  hour  of  the  Manchus  had  come!  Shanghai  is  a  little 
place,  and  we  have  nothing  to  fear  from  it.  We  must  take 
Shanghai  to  complete  our  dominions."  The  death  of  Hien- 
fung  seems  to  have  encouraged  Chung  Wang  to  take  what 
he  hoped  would  prove  a  decisive  step. 

On  January  14,  1862,  the  Taepings  reached  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  the  town  and  foreign  settlement.  The  sur- 
rounding country  was  concealed  by  the  smoke  of  the  burning 
villages,  which  they  had  ruthlessly  destroyed.  The  foreign 
settlement  was  crowded  with  thousands  of  fugitives,  implor- 
ing the  aid  of  the  Europeans  to  save  their  houses  and  prop- 
erty. Their  sufferings,  which  would  at  the  best  have  been 
great,  were  aggravated  by  the  exceptional  severity  of  the 
winter.  The  English  garrison  of  two  native  regiments  and 
some  artillery,  even  when  supported  by  the  volunteers,  was 
far  too  weak  to  attempt  more  than  the  defense  of  the  place; 
but  this  it  was  fortunately  able  to  perform.  The  rebels,  dur- 
ing the  first  week  after  their  reappearance,  plundered  and 
Durned  in  all  directions,  threatening  even  to  make  an  attack 
on  Woosung,  the  port  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  they 
were  repulsed  by  the  French.  Sir  John  Michel  arrived  at 
Shanghai  with  a  small  re-enforcement  of  English  troops, 
and  Ward,  having  succeeded  in  disciplining  two  Chinese 
regiments  of  about  one  thousand  strong  in  all,  sallied  forth 


THE    TAEPINQ    REBELLION.  397 

from  Sunkiang  for  the  purpose  of  operating  on  the  rear  of 
the  Taeping  forces.  Ward's  capture  of  Quanfuling,  with 
several  hundred  rebel  boats  which  were  frozen  up  in  the 
river,  should  have  warned  the  Taepings  that  it  was  nearly 
time  for  them  to  retire.  However,  they  did  not  act  as  pru- 
dence would  have  dictated,  and  during  the  whole  of  Feb- 
ruary their  raids  continued  round  Shanghai.  The  suburbs 
suffered  from  their  attacks,  the  foreign  factories  and  boats 
were  not  secure,  and  several  outrages  on  the  persons  of  for- 
eigners remained  unatoned  for.  It  was  impossible  to  tolerate 
any  longer  their  enormities.  The  English  and  French  com- 
manders came  to  the  determination  to  attack  the  rebels,  to 
enforce  the  original  agreement  with  Tien  Wang,  and  to  clear 
the  country  round  Shanghai  of  the  presence  of  the  Taepings 
for  the  space  of  thirty  miles. 

On  February  21,  therefore,  a  joiat  force  composed  of  336 
English  sailors  and  marines,  160  French  seamen,  and  600 
men  from  Ward's  contingent,  accompanied  by  their  respect- 
ive commanders,  with  Admiral  Hope  in  chief  charge,  ad- 
vanced upon  the  village  of  Kachiaou,  where  the  Taepings 
had  strengthened  their  position  and  placed  guns  on  the 
walls.  After  a  sharp  engagement  the  place  was  stormed, 
Ward's  men  leading  the  attack  with  Burgevine  at  their 
head.  The  drilled  Chinese  behaved  with  great  steadiness, 
but  the  Taepings  were  not  to  be  dismayed  by  a  single  defeat. 
They  even  resumed  their  attacks  on  the  Europeans.  On  one 
occasion  Admiral  Hope  himself  was  compelled  to  retire  be- 
fore their  superior  numbers,  and  to  summon  fresh  troops  to 
his  assistance.  The  re-enforcements  consisted  of  450  Eu- 
ropeans and  700  of  Ward's  force,  besides  seven  howitzers. 
With  these  it  was  determined  to  attack  Tseedong,  a  place  of 
great  strength,  surrounded  by  stone  walls  and  ditches  seven 
feet  deep.  The  Taepings  stood  to  their  guns  with  great 
spirit,  receiving  the  advancing  troops  with  a  very  heavy  fire. 
When,  however,  Ward's  contingent,  making  a  detour,  ap- 
peared in  the  rear  of  the  place,  they  hastily  evacuated  their 
positions;  but  the  English  sailors  had  carried  the  walls,  and, 


398  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

caught  between  two  fires,  they  offered  a  stubborn  but  futile 
resistance.  More  than  700  were  killed  and  300  were  taken 
prisoners.  The  favorable  opinion  formed  of  "the  Ever- Vic- 
torious Army"  by  the  action  at  Kachiaou  was  confirmed  by 
the  more  serious  affair  at  Tseedong;  and  Mr.  Bruce  at  Pekin 
brought  it  under  the  favorable  notice  of  Prince  Kung  and 
the  Chinese  government.  Having  taken  these  hostile  steps 
against  the  rebels,  it  necessarily  followed  that  no  advantage 
would  accrue  from  any  further  hesitation  with  regard  to 
allowing  Europeans  to  enter  the  imperial  service  for  the  pur- 
pose of  opposing  them.  Ward  was  officially  recognized,  and 
allowed  to  purchase  weapons  and  to  engage  officers.  An 
Englishman  contracted  to  convey  9,000  of  the  troops  who 
had  stormed  Ganking  from  the  Yangtse  to  Shanghai.  These 
men  were  Honan  braves,  who  had  seen  considerable  service 
in  the  interior  of  China,  -and  it  was  proposed  that  they  should 
garrison  the  towns  of  Kiangsu  accordingly  as  they  were 
taken  from  the  rebels.  The  arrival  of  General  Staveley 
from  Tientsin  at  the  end  of  March,  with  portions  of  two 
English  regiments  (the  31st  and  67th),  put  a  new  face  on 
affairs,  and  showed  that  the  time  was  at  hand  when  it  would 
be  possible  to  carry  out  the  threat  of  clearing  the  country 
round  Shanghai  for  the  space  of  thirty  miles. 

The  first  place  to  be  attacked  toward  the  realization  of 
this  plan  was  the  village  of  "Wongkadza,  about  twelve  miles 
west  of  Shanghai.  Here  the  Taepings  offered  only  a  brief 
resistance,  retiring  to  some  stronger  stockades  four  miles 
further  west.  General  Staveley,  considering  that  his  men 
had  done  enough  work  for  that  day,  halted  them,  intending 
to  renew  the  attack  the  next  morning.  Unfortunately  Ward 
was  carried  away  by  his  impetuosity,  and  attacked  this  inner 
position  with  some  500  of  his  own  men.  Admiral  Hope  ac- 
companied him.  The  Taepings  met  them  with  a  tremendous 
fire,  and  after  several  attempts  to  scale  the  works  they  were 
repulsed  with  heavy  loss.  Admiral  Hope  was  wounded  in 
the  leg,  seven  officers  were  wounded,  and  seventy  men  killed 
and  wounded.     The  attack  was  repeated  in  force  on  the  fol- 


THE    TAEPINQ   REBELLION.  399 

lowing  day,  and  after  some  fighting  the  Taepings  evacuated 
their  stockades.  The  next  place  attacked  was  the  village  of 
Tsipoo;  and,  notwithstanding  their  strong  earthworks  and 
three  wide  ditches,  the  rebels  were  driven  out  in  a  few  hours. 
It  was  then  determined  to  attack  Kahding,  Tsingpu,  Nanjao, 
and  Cholin,  at  which  places  the  Taepings  were  known  to 
have  mustered  in  considerable  strength. 

The  first  place  was  taken  with  little  resistance,  and  its 
capture  was  followed  by  preparations  for  the  attack  on 
Tsingpu,  which  were  hastened  rather  than  delayed  by  a 
desperate  attempt  to  set  fire  to  Shanghai.  The  plot  was 
fortunately  discovered  in  time,  and  the  culprits  captured  and 
summarily  executed  to  the  number  of  two  hundred.  Early 
in  May  a  strong  force  was  assembled  at  Sunkiang,  and  pro- 
ceeded by  boat,  on  account  of  the  difficulties  of  locomotion, 
to  Tsingpu.  The  fire  of  the  guns,  in  which  the  expedition 
was  exceptionally  strong,  proved  most  destructive,  and  two 
breaches  being  pronounced  practicable  the  place  was  carried 
by  assault.  The  rebels  fought  well  and  up  to  the  last,  when 
they  found  flight  impossible.  The  Chinese  troops  slew  every 
man  found  in  the  place  with  arms  in  his  hands.  A  few  days 
later  Nanjao  was  captured,  but  in  the  attack  the  French 
commander,  Admiral  Protet,  a  gallant  officer  who  had  been 
to  the  front  during  the  whole  of  these  operations,  was  shot 
dead.  The  rebels,  disheartened  by  these  successive  defeats, 
rallied  at  Cholin,  where  they  prepared  to  make  a  final  stand. 
The  allied  force  attacked  Cholin  on  May  20,  and  an  English 
detachment  carried  it  almost  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 
With  this  achievement  the  operations  of  the  English  troops 
came  for  the  moment  to  an  end,  for  a  disaster  to  the  imperial 
arms  in  their  rear  necessitated  their  turning  their  attention 
to  a  different  quarter. 

The  troops  summoned  from  Qanking  had  at  last  arrived 
to  the  number  of  five  or  six  thousand  men;  and  the  Futai 
Sieh,  who  was  on  the  point  of  being  superseded  to  make 
room  for  Li  Hung  Chang,  thought  to  employ  them  before 
his  departure  on  some  enterprise  which  should  redound  to  his 


400  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

credit  and  restore  his  sinking  fortunes.  The  operation  was 
as  hazardous  as  it  was  ambitious.  The  resolution  he  came 
to  was  to  attack  the  city  and  forts  of  Taitsan,  a  place  north- 
west of  Shanghai,  and  not  very  far  distant  from  Chung 
Wang's  headquarters  at  Soochow.  The  imperialist  force 
reached  Taitsan  on  May  12,  but  less  than  two  dajrs  later 
Chung  Wang  arrived  in  person  at  the  head  of  10,000  chosen 
troops  to  relieve  the  garrison.  A  battle  ensued  on  the  day 
following,  when,  notwithstanding  their  great  superiority  in 
numbers,  the  Taepings  failed  to  obtain  any  success.  In  this 
extremity  Chung  Wang  resorted  to  a  stratagem.  Two  thou- 
sand of  his  men  shaved  their  heads  and  pretended  to  desert 
to  the  imperialists.  When  the  battle  was  renewed  at  sunrise 
on  the  following  morning  this  band  threw  aside  their  as- 
sumed character  and  turned  upon  the  imperialists.  A  dread- 
ful slaughter  ensued.  Of  the  7,000  Honan  braves  and  the 
Tartars  from  Shanghai,  5,000  fell  on  the  field.  The  con- 
sequences of  this  disaster  were  to  undo  most  of  the  good 
accomplished  by  General  Staveley  and  his  force.  The  im- 
perialists were  for  the  moment  dismayed,  and  the  Taepings 
correspondingly  encouraged.  General  Staveley's  communi- 
cations were  threatened,  and  he  had  to  abandon  his  intended 
plan  and  retrace  his  steps  to  Shanghai. 

Chung  Wang  then  laid  regular  siege  to  Sunkiang,  where 
Ward  was  in  person,  and  he  very  nearly  succeeded  in  carry- 
ing the  place  by  escalade.  The  attempt  was  fortunately  dis- 
covered by  an  English  sailor  just  in  time,  and  repulsed  with 
a  loss  to  the  rebels  of  100  men.  The  Taepings  continued  to 
show  great  daring  and  activity  before  both  Sunkiang  and 
Tsingpu;  and  although  the  latter  place  was  bravely  defended, 
it  became  clear  that  the  wisest  course  would  be  to  evacuate 
it.  A  body  of  troops  was  therefore  sent  from  Shanghai  to 
form  a  junction  with  Ward  at  Sunkiang,  and  to  effect  the 
safe  retreat  of  the  Tsingpu  garrison.  The  earlier  proceedings 
were  satisfactorily  arranged,  but  the  last  act  of  all  was 
grossly  mismanaged  and  resulted  in  a  catastrophe.  Ward 
caused  the  place  to  be  set  on  fire,  when  the  Taepings,  realiz- 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  401 

ing  what  was  being  done,  hastened  into  the  town,  and  as- 
sailed the  retiring  garrison.  A  scene  of  great  confusion 
followed;  many  lives  were  lost,  and  the  commandant  who 
had  held  it  so  courageously  was  taken  prisoner.  Chung 
Wang  could  therefore  appeal  to  some  facts  to  support  his 
contention  that  he  had  got  the  better  of  the  Europeans  and 
the  imperialists  in  the  province  of  Kiangsu. 

From  the  scene  of  his  successes  Chung  Wang  was  once 
more  called  away  by  the  timidity  or  peril  of  Tien  Wang, 
who  was  barely  able  to  maintain  his  position  at  Nankin,  but 
when  he  hastened  off  to  assist  the  chief  of  the  Taepings  he 
found  that  he  was  out  of  favor,  and  that  the  jealousy  or  fear  of 
his  colleagues  had  brought  about  his  temporary  disgrace  and 
loss  of  title.  Shortly  after  Chung  Wang's  departure  Ward 
was  killed  in  action  and  Burgevine  succeeded  to  the  com- 
mand, but  it  soon  became  apparent  that  his  relations  with 
the  Chinese  authorities  would  not  be  smooth.  General  Ching 
was  jealous  of  the  Ever- Victorious  Army  and  wished  to 
have  all  the  credit  for  himself.  Li  Hung  Chang,  who  had 
been  appointed  Futai  or  Governor  of  Kiangsu,  entertained 
doubts  of  the  loyalty  of  this  adventurer.  Burgevine  was  a 
man  of  high  temper  and  strong  passions,  who  met  the  wiles 
of  the  Futai  with  peremptory  demands  to  recognize  the 
claims  of  himself  and  his  band.  Nor  was  this  all.  Burge- 
vine had  designs  of  his  own.  Although  the  project  had  not 
taken  definite  form  in  his  mind  the  inclination  was  strong 
within  him  to  play  the  part  of  military  dictator  with  the 
Chinese ;  or  failing  that,  to  found  an  independent  authority 
on  some  convenient  spot  of  Celestial  territory.  The  Futai 
anticipated,  perhaps,  more  than  divined  his  wishes.  In 
Burgevine  he  saw,  very  shortly  after  their  coming  into  con- 
tact, not  merely  a  man  whom  he  disliked  and  distrusted,  but 
one  who,  if  allowed  to  pursue  his  plans  unchecked,  would  in 
the  end  form  a  greater  danger  to  the  imperial  authority  than 
even  the  Taepings.  It  is  not  possible  to  deny  Li's  shrewd- 
ness in  reading  the  character  of  the  man  with  whom  he  had 
to  deal. 


402  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

The  Futai  Li,  in  order  to  test  his  obedience,  proposed  that 
Burgevine  and  his  men  should  be  sent  round  by  sea  to  Nan- 
kin to  take  part  in  the  siege  of  that  city.  The  ships  were 
actually  prepared  for  their  conveyance,  and  the  Taotai  Wou, 
who  had  first  fitted  out  a  fleet  against  the  rebels,  was  in 
readiness  to  accompany  Burgevine,  when  Li  and  his  col- 
league, as  suspicious  of  Burgevine's  compliance  as  they 
would  have  been  indignant  at  his  refusal,  changed  their 
plans  and  countermanded  the  expedition.  Instead  of  carry- 
ing out  this  project,  therefore,  they  laid  a  number  of  formal 
complaints  before  General  Staveley  as  to  Burgevine's  con- 
duct, and  requested  the  English  government  to  remove  him 
from  his  command,  and  to  appoint  an  English  officer  in  his 
place.  The  charges  against  Burgevine  did  not  at  this  time 
amount  to  more  than  a  certain  laxness  in  regard  to  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  force,  a  disregard  for  the  wishes  and  preju- 
dices of  the  Chinese  government,  and  the  want  of  tact,  or 
of  the  desire  to  conciliate,  in  his  personal  relations  with  the 
Futai.  If  Burgevine  had  resigned,  all  would  have  been 
well,  but  he  regarded  the  position  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  adventurer  who  believes  that  his  own  interests  form  a 
supreme  law  and  are  the  highest  good.  As  commander  of 
the  Ever- Victorious  Army  he  was  a  personage  to  be  consid- 
ered even  by  foreign  governments.  He  would  not  volunta- 
rily surrender  the  position  which  alone  preserved  him  from 
obscurity.  Having  come  to  this  decision  it  was  clear  that 
even  the  partial  execution  of  his  plans  must  draw  him  into 
many  errors  of  judgment  which  could  not  but  imbitter  the 
conflict.  The  reply  of  the  English  commander  was  to  the 
effect  that  personally  he  could  not  interfere,  but  that  he 
would  refer  the  matter  to  London  as  well  as  to  Mr.  Bruce  at 
Pekin.  In  consequence  of  the  delay  thus  caused  the  project 
of  removing  the  force  to  Nankin  was  revived,  and,  the 
steamers  having  been  chartered,  Burgevine  was  requested  to 
bring  down  his  force  from  Sunkiang  and  to  embark  it  at 
Shanghai.  This  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  do  on  pay- 
ment of  his  men,  who  were  two  months  in  arrear,  and  on  the 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  403 

settlement  of  all  outstanding  claims.  B  urge  vine  was  sup- 
ported by  his  troops.  "Whatever  his  dislike  to  the  proposed 
move,  theirs  was  immeasurably  greater.  They  refused  to 
move  without  the  payment  of  all  arrears;  and  on  January 
2  they  even  went  so  far  as  to  openly  mutiny.  Two  days 
later  Burgevine  went  to  Shanghai  and  had  an  interview  with 
Takee.  The  meeting  was  stormy.  Burgevine  used  personal 
violence  toward  the  Shanghai  merchant,  whose  attitude  was 
at  first  overbearing,  and  he  returned  to  his  exasperated 
troops  with  the  money,  which  he  carried  off  by  force.  The 
Futai  Li,  on  hearing  of  the  assault  on  Takee,  hastened  to 
General  Staveley  to  complain  of  Burgevine's  gross  insubor- 
dination in  striking  a  mandarin,  which  by  the  law  of  China 
was  punishable  with  death.  Burgevine  was  dismissed  the 
Chinese  service,  and  the  notice  of  this  removal  was  for- 
warded by  the  English  general,  with  a  recommendation  to 
him  to  give  up  his  command  without  disturbance.  This 
Burgevine  did,  for  the  advice  of  the  English  general  was 
equivalent  to  a  command,  and  on  January  6,  1863,  Burge- 
vine was  back  at  Shanghai.  Captain  Holland  was  then 
placed  in  temporary  command,  while  the  answer  of  the 
home  government  was  awaited  to  General  Staveley's  prop- 
osition to  intrust  the  force  to  the  care  of  a  young  captain  of 
engineers,  named  Charles  Gordon.  Chung  Wang  returned 
at  this  moment  to  Soochow,  and  in  Kiangsu  the  cause  of  the 
Taepings  again  revived  through  his  energy.  In  February 
a  detachment  of  Holland's  force  attacked  Fushan,  but  met 
with  a  check,  when  the  news  of  a  serious  defeat  at  Taitsan, 
where  the  former  Futai  Sieh  had  been  defeated,  compelled 
its  speedy  retreat  to  Sunkiang.  Li  had  some  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  Taitsan  would  surrender  on  the  approach  of  the 
imperialists,  and  he  accordingly  sent  a  large  army,  including 
2,500  of  the  contingent,  to  attack  it.  The  affair  was  badly 
managed.  The  assaulting  party  was  stopped  by  a  wide 
ditch ;  neither  boats  nor  ladders  arrived.  The  Taepings  fired 
furiously  on  the  exposed  party,  several  officers  were  killed, 
and  the  men  broke  into  confusion.     The  heavy  guns  stuck 


*04  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

in  the  soft  ground  and  bad  to  be  abandoned ;  and  despite  the 
good  conduct  of  the  contingent  the  Taepings  achieved  a  de- 
cisive success  (February  13).  Chung  Wang  was  able  to  feel 
that  his  old  luck  had  not  deserted  him,  and  the  Taepings  of 
Kiangsu  recovered  all  their  former  confidence  in  themselves 
and  their  leader.  This  disaster  inflicted  a  rude  blow  on  the 
confidence  of  Li  and  his  assistants ;  and  it  was  resolved  that 
nothing  should  be  attempted  until  the  English  officer,  at  last 
appointed,  had  assumed  the  active  command. 

Such  was  the  position  of  affairs  when  on  March  24,  1863, 
Major  Gordon  took  over  the  command  of  the  Ever-Victorious 
Army.  At  that  moment  it  was  not  merely  discouraged  by 
its  recent  reverses,  but  it  was  discontented  with  its  position, 
and  when  Major  Gordon  assumed  the  command  at  Sunkiang 
there  was  some  fear  of  an  immediate  mutiny.  The  new 
commander  succeeded  in  allaying  their  discontent,  and  be- 
lieving that  active  employment  was  the  best  cure  for  insub- 
ordination resolved  to  relieve  Chanzu  without  delay.  The 
Taepings  were  pressing  the  siege  hard  and  would  probably 
have  captured  the  place  before  many  days  when  Major 
Gordon  attacked  them  in  their  stockades  and  drove  them 
out  with  no  inconsiderable  loss.  Having  thus  gained  the 
confidence  of  his  men  and  the  approbation  of  the  Chinese 
authorities  Major  Gordon  returned  to  Sunkiang,  where  he 
employed  himself  in  energetically  restoring  the  discipline  of 
his  force,  and  in  preparing  for  his  next  move,  which  at  the 
request  of  Li  Hung  Chang  was  to  be  the  capture  of  Quinsan. 
On  April  24  the  force  left  Sunkiang  to  attack  Quinsan,  but 
it  had  not  proceeded  far  when  its  course  had  to  be  altered  to 
Taitsan,  where,  through  an  act  of  treachery,  a  force  of  1,500 
imperialists  had  been  annihilated.  It  became  necessary  to 
retrieve  this  disaster  without  delay,  more  especially  as  all 
hope  of  taking  Quinsan  had  for  the  moment  to  be  abandoned. 
Major  Gordon  at  once  altered  the  direction  of  his  march, 
and  joining  en  route  General  Ching,  who  had,  on  the  news, 
broken  up  his  camp  before  Quinsan,  hastened  as  rapidly  as 
possible  to  Taitsan,  where  he  arrived  on  April  29.     Bad 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  405 

weather  obliged  the  attack  to  be  deferred  until  May  1,  when 
two  stockades  on  the  west  side  were  carried,  and  their  de- 
fenders compelled  to  flee,  not  into  the  town  as  they  would 
have  wished,  but  away  from  it  toward  Chanzu.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day,  the  attack  was  resumed  on  the  north  side,  while 
the  armed  boats  proceeded  to  assault  the  place  from  the 
creek.  The  firing  continued  from  nine  in  the  morning  until 
five  in  the  evening,  when  a  breach  seemed  to  be  practicable, 
and  two  regiments  were  ordered  to  the  assault.  The  rebels 
showed  great  courage  and  fortitude,  swarming  in  the  breach 
and  pouring  a  heavy  and  well-directed  fire  upon  the  troops. 
The  attack  was  momentarily  checked ;  but  while  the  storni- 
ers  remained  under  such  cover  as  they  could  find,  the  shells 
of  two  howitzers  were  playing  over  their  heads  and  causing 
frightful  havoc  among  the  Taepings  in  the  breach.  But  for 
these  guns,  Major  Gordon  did  not  think  that  the  place  would 
have  been  carried  at  all ;  but  after  some  minutes  of  this  firing 
at  such  close  quarters,  the  rebels  began  to  show  signs  of 
wavering.  A  party  of  troops  gained  the  wall,  a  fresh  regi- 
ment advanced  toward  the  breach,  and  the  disappearance 
of  the  snake  flag  showed  that  the  Taeping  leaders  had  given 
up  the  fight.  Taitsan  was  thus  captured,  and  the  three 
previous  disasters  before  it  retrieved. 

On  May  4  the  victorious  force  appeared  before  Quinsan,  a 
place  of  considerable  strength  and  possessing  a  formidabe  ar- 
tillery directed  by  a  European.  The  town  was  evidently  too 
strong  to  be  carried  by  an  immediate  attack,  and  Major 
Gordon's  movements  were  further  hampered  by  the  conduct 
of  his  own  men,  who,  upon  their  arrival  at  Quinsan,  hurried 
off  in  detachments  to  Sunkiang  for  the  purpose  of  disposing 
of  their  spoil.  Ammunition  had  also  fallen  short,  and  the 
commander  was  consequently  obliged  to  return  to  refit  and 
to  rally  his  men.  At  Sunkiang  worse  confusion  followed, 
for  the  men,  or  rather  the  officers,  broke  out  into  mutiny  on 
the  occasion  of  Major  Gordon  appointing  an  English  officer 
with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel  to  the  control  of  the  com- 
missariat, which  had  been  completely  neglected.     The  men 


406  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

who  had  served  with  Ward  and  Burgevine  objected  to  this, 
and  openly  refused  to  obey  orders.  Fortunately  the  stores 
and  ammunition  were  collected,  and  Major  Gordon  an- 
nounced that  he  would  march  on  the  following  morning, 
with  or  without  the  mutineers.  Those  who  did  not  answer 
to  their  names  at  the  end  of  the  first  half-march  would  be 
dismissed,  and  he  spoke  with  the  authority  of  one  in  com- 
plete accord  with  the  Chinese  authorities  themselves.  The 
soldiers  obeyed  him  as  a  Chinese  official,  because  he  had 
been  made  a  tsungping  or  brigadier-general,  and  the  officers 
feared  to  disobey  him  as  they  would  have  liked  on  account 
of  his  commanding  the  source  whence  they  were  paid.  The 
mutineers  fell  in,  and  a  force  of  nearly  3,000  men,  well- 
equipped  and  anxious  for  the  fray,  returned  to  Quinsan, 
where  General  Ching  had,  in  the  meanwhile,  kept  the  rebels 
closely  watched  from  a  strong  position  defended  by  several 
stockades  and  supported  by  the  "Hyson"  steamer.  Imme- 
diately after  his  arrival,  Major  Gordon  moved  out  his  force 
to  attack  the  stockades  which  the  rebels  had  constructed  on 
their  right  wing.  These  were  strongly  built;  but  as  soon 
as  the  defenders  perceived  that  the  assailants  had  gained 
their  flank  they  precipitately  withdrew  into  Quinsan  itself. 
General  Ching  wished  the  attack  to  be  made  on  the  eastern 
gate,  opposite  to  which  he  had  raised  his  own  intrenchments, 
and  by  which  he  had  announced  his  intention  of  forcing  his 
way ;  but  a  brief  inspection  showed  Major  Gordon  that  that 
was  the  strongest  point  of  the  town,  and  that  a  direct  attack 
upon  it  could  only  succeed,  if  at  all,  by  a  very  considerable 
sacrifice  of  men.  Like  a  prudent  commander  Major  Gordon 
determined  to  reconnoiter;  and,  after  much  grumbling  on 
the  part  of  General  Ching,  he  decided  that  the  most  hopeful 
plan  was  to  carry  some  stockades  situated  seven  miles  west 
of  the  town,  and  thence  assail  Quinsan  on  the  Soochow  side, 
which  was  weaker  than  the  others.  These  stockades  were 
at  a  village  called  Chumze.  On  May  30  the  force  detailed 
for  this  work  proceeded  to  carry  it  out.  The  "Hyson"  and 
fifty  imperial  gunboats  conveyed  the  land  force,  which  con- 


THE   TAEPING    REBELLION.  407 

sisted  of  one  regiment,  some  guns,  and  a  large  body  of  im- 
perialists. The  rebels  at  Chumze  offered  hardly  the  least 
resistance ;  whether  it  was  that  they  were  dismayed  at  the 
sudden  appearance  of  the  enemy,  or,  as  was  stated  at  the 
time,  because  they  considered  themselves  ill-treated  by  their 
comrades  in  Quinsan.  The  "Hyson"  vigorously  pursued 
those  who  fled  toward  Soochow,  and  completed  the  effect  of 
this  success  by  the  capture  of  a  very  strong  and  well-built 
fort  covering  a  bridge  at  Ta  Edin.  An  imperialist  garrison 
was  installed  there,  and  the  "Hyson"  continued  the  pursuit 
to  within  a  mile  of  Soochow  itself. 

The  defenders  of  Quinsan  itself  were  terribly  alarmed  at 
the  cutting  off  of  their  communications.  They  saw  them- 
selves on  the  point  of  being  surrounded,  and  they  yielded  to 
the  uncontrollable  impulse  of  panic.  During  the  night,  after 
having  suffered  severely  from  the  "Hyson"  fire,  the  garrison 
evacuated  the  place,  which  might  easily  have  held  out;  and 
General  Ching  had  the  personal  satisfaction,  on  learning 
from  some  deserters  of  the  flight  of  the  garrison,  of  leading 
his  men  over  the  eastern  walls  which  he  had  wished  to  as- 
sault. The  importance  of  Quinsan  was  realized  on  its  cap- 
ture. Major  Gordon  pronounced  it  to  be  the  key  of  Soochow, 
and  at  once  resolved  to  establish  his  headquarters  there, 
partly  because  of  its  natural  advantages,  but  also  and  not 
less  on  account  of  its  enabling  him  to  gradually  destroy  the 
evil  associations  which  the  men  had  contracted  at  Sunkiang 

The  change  was  not  acceptable,  however,  to  the  force 
itself ;  and  the  artillery  in  particular  refused  to  obey  orders, 
and  threatened  to  shoot  their  officers.  Discipline  was,  how- 
ever, promptly  reasserted  by  the  energy  of  the  commander, 
who  ordered  the  principal  ringleader  to  be  shot,  and  "the 
Ever- Victorious  Army"  became  gradually  reconciled  to  its 
new  position  at  Quinsan.  After  the  capture  of  Quinsan 
there  was  a  cessation  of  active  operations  for  nearly  two 
months.  It  was  the  height  of  summer  and  the  new  troops 
had  to  be  drilled.  The  difficulty  with  Ching,  who  took 
all  the  credit  for  the  capture  of  Quinsan  to  himself;  was 


408  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

arranged  through  the  mediation  of  Dr.  Macartney,  who  had 
just  left  the  English  army  to  become  Li's  right-hand  man. 
Two  other  circumstances  occurred  to  embarrass  the  young 
commander.  There  were  rum  o  s  of  some  meditated  move- 
ment on  the  part  of  Burgevine,  who  had  returned  from  Pekin 
with  letters  exculpating  him,  and  who  endeavored  to  recovei- 
the  command  in  spite  of  Li  Hung  Chang,  and  there  was  a 
further  manifestation  of  insubordination  in  the  force,  which, 
as  Gordon  said,  bore  more  resemblance  to  a  rabble  than  the 
magnificent  army  it  was  popularly  supposed  to  be.  The 
artillery  had  been  cowed  by  Major  Gordon's  vigor,  but  its 
efficiency  remained  more  doubtful  than  could  be  satisfactory 
to  the  general  responsible  for  its  condition,  and  also  relying 
upon  it  as  the  most  potent  arm  of  his  force.  He  resolved  to 
remove  the  old  commander,  and  to  appoint  an  English  offi- 
cer, Major  Tapp,  in  his  place.  On  carrying  his  determina- 
tion into  effect  the  officers  sent  in  "a  round  robin,"  refusing 
to  accept  a  new  officer.  This  was  on  July  25,  and  the  expe- 
dition which  had  been  decided  upon  against  Wokong  had 
consequently  to  set  out  the  following  morning  without  a 
single  artillery  officer.  In  face  of  the  inflexible  resolve  of 
the  leader,  however,  the  officers  repented,  and  appeared  in  a 
body  at  the  camp  begging  to  be  taken  back,  and  expressing 
their  willingness  to  accept  "Major  Tapp  or  any  one  else"  as 
their  colonel. 

With  these  troops,  part  of  whom  had  only  just  returned 
to  a  proper  sense  of  discipline,  Gordon  proceeded  to  attack 
Kahpoo,  on  the  Grand  Canal  south  of  Soochow,  where 
the  rebels  held  two  strongly-built  stone  forts.  The  force 
had  been  strengthened  by  the  addition  of  another  steamer, 
the  "Firefly,"  a  sister  vessel  to  the  "Hyson."  Major  Gor- 
don arrived  before  Kahpoo  on  J'lly  27 ;  and  the  garrison, 
evidently  taken  by  surprise,  made  scarcely  the  least  resist- 
ance. The  capture  of  Kahpoo  placed  Gordon's  force  between 
Soochow  and  "Wokong,  the  next  object  of  attack.  At  "Wokong 
the  rebels  were  equally  unprepared.  The  garrison  at  Kah- 
poo, thinking  only  of  its  own  safety,  had  fled  to  Soochow, 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  409 

leaving  their  comrades  at  Wokong  unwarned  and  to  their 
fate.  So  heedless  were  the  Taepings  at  this  place  of  all 
danger  from  the  north,  that  they  had  even  neglected  to 
occupy  a  strong  stone  fort  situated  about  1,000  yards  north 
of  the  walls.  The  Taepings  attempted  too  late  to  repair  their 
error,  and  the  loss  of  this  fort  caused  them  that  of  all  their 
other  stockades.  Wokong  itself  was  too  weak  to  offer  any 
effectual  resistance ;  and  the  garrison  on  the  eve  of  the  as- 
sault ordered  for  July  29  sent  out  a  request  for  quarter,  which 
was  granted,  and  the  place  surrendered  without  further 
fighting.  Meanwhile  an  event  of  far  greater  importance 
had  happened  than  even  the  capture  of  these  towns,  although 
they  formed  the  necessary  preliminary  to  the  investment  of 
Soochow.  B  urge  vine  had  come  to  the  decision  to  join  the 
Taepings. 

Disappointed  in  his  hope  of  receiving  the  command, 
Burgevine  remained  on  at  Shanghai,  employing  his  time  in 
watching  the  varying  phases  of  a  campaign  in  which  ho 
longed  to  take  part,  and  of  which  he  believed  that  it  was 
only  his  due  to  have  the  direction,  but  still  hesitating  as  to 
what  decision  it  behooved  him  to  take.  His  contempt  for  all 
Chinese  officials  became  hatred  of  the  bitterest  kind  of  the 
Futai,  by  whom  he  had  been  not  merely  thwarted  but  over- 
reached, and  predisposed  him  to  regard  with  no  unfavorable 
eye  the  idea  of  joining  his  fortunes  to  those  of  the  rebel  Tae- 
pings. To  him  in  this  frame  of  mind  came  some  of  the  dis- 
missed officers  and  men  of  the  Ward  force,  appealing  to  his 
vanity  by  declaring  that  his  soldiers  remembered  him  with 
affection,  and  that  he  had  only  to  hoist  his  flag  for  most  of 
his  old  followers  to  rally  round  him.  There  was  little  to 
marvel  at  if  he  also  was  not  free  from  some  feeling  of  jeal- 
ousy at  the  success  and  growing  fame  of  Major  Gordon,  for 
whom  he  simulated  a  warm  friendship.  The  combination 
of  motives  proved  altogether  irresistible  as  soon  as  ho  found 
that  several  hundred  European  adventurers  were  ready  to 
accompany  him  into  the  ranks  of  the  Taepings,  and  to  en- 
deavor to  do  for  them  what  they  had  failed  to  perform  for 

18 


410  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

the  imperialists.  On  July  15,  Dr.  Macartney  wrote  to  Major 
Gordon  stating  that  he  had  positive  information  that  Burge- 
vine  was  enlisting  men  for  some  enterprise,  that  he  had 
already  collected  about  300  Europeans,  and  that  he  had  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  choose  a  special  flag,  a  white  diamond  on  a 
red  ground,  and  containing  a  black  star  in  the  center  of  the 
diamond.  On  the  21st  of  the  same  month  Burgevine  wrote 
to  Major  Gordon  saying  that  there  would  be  many  rumors 
about  him,  but  that  he  was  not  to  believe  any  of  them,  and 
that  he  would  come  and  see  him  shortly.  This  letter  was 
written  as  a  blind,  and,  unfortunately,  Major  Gordon  at- 
tached greater  value  to  Burgevine's  word  than  he  did  to  the 
precise  information  of  Dr.  Macartney.  He  was  too  much 
disposed  to  think  that,  as  the  officer  who  had  to  a  certain 
extent  superseded  Burgevine  in  the  command,  he  was  bound 
to  take  the  most  favorable  view  of  all  his  actions,  and  to  trust 
implicitly  in  his  good  faith.  Major  Gordon,  trusting  to  hia 
word,  made  himself  personally  responsible  to  the  Chinese 
authorities  for  his  good  faith,  and  thus  Burgevine  escaped 
arrest.  Burgevine's  plans  had  been  deeply  laid.  He  had 
been  long  in  correspondence  with  the  Taepings,  and  his  terms 
had  been  accepted.  He  proclaimed  his  hostility  to  the  gov- 
ernment by  seizing  one  of  their  new  steamers. 

At  this  very  moment  Major  Gordon  came  to  the  decis- 
ion to  resign,  and  he  hastened  back  to  Shanghai  in  order  to 
place  his  withdrawal  from  the  force  in  the  hands  of  the  Futai. 
He  arrived  there  on  the  very  day  that  Burgevine  seized  the 
"Kajow"  steamer  at  Sunkiang,  and  on  hearing  the  news 
he  at  once  withdrew  his  resignation,  which  had  been  made 
partly  from  irritation  at  the  irregular  payment  of  his  men, 
and  also  on  account  of  the  cruelty  of  General  Ching.  Not 
merely  did  he  withdraw  his  resignation,  but  he  hastened 
back  to  Quinsan,  into  which  he  rode  on  the  night  of  the  very 
same  day  that  had  witnessed  his  departure.  The  immediate 
and  most  pressing  danger  was  from  the  possible  defection 
of  the  force  to  its  old  leader,  when,  with  the  large  stores  of 
artillery  and  ammunition  at  Quinsan  in  their  possession,  not 


THE   TAEPINO    REBELLION.  411 

even  Shangnai,  with  its  very  weak  foreign  garrison,  could 
be  considered  safe  from  attack.  As  a  measure  of  precaution 
Major  Gordon  sent  some  of  his  heavy  guns  and  stores  back 
to  Taitsan,  where  the  English  commander,  General  Brown, 
consented  to  guard  them,  while  he  hastened  off  to  Kahpoo, 
now  threatened  both  by  the  Soochow  force  and  by  the  for- 
eign adventurers  acting  under  Burgevine.  He  arrived  at  a 
most  critical  moment.  The  garrison  was  hard  pressed.  Gen- 
eral Ching  had  gone  back  to  Shanghai,  and  only  the  presence 
of  the  "Hyson"  prevented  the  rebels,  who  were  well-armed 
and  possessed  an  efficient  artillery,  from  carrying  the  fort  by 
a  rush.  The  arrival  of  Major  Gordon  with  150  men  on  board 
his  third  steamer,  the  "Cricket,"  restored  the  confidence  of 
the  defenders,  but  there  was  no  doubt  that  Burgevine  had 
lost  a  most  favorable  opportunity,  for  if  he  had  attacked  this 
place  instead  of  proceeding  to  Soochow  it  must  have  fallen. 
General  Ching,  who  was  a  man  of  almost  extraordinary 
energy  and  restlessness,  resolved  to  signalize  his  return  to 
the  field  by  some  striking  act  while  Major  Gordon  was  com- 
pleting his  preparations  at  Quinsan  for  a  fresh  effort.  His 
headquarters  wero  at  the  strong  fort  of  Ta  Edin,  on  the  creek 
leading  from  Quinsan  to  Soochow,  and  having  the  "Hyson" 
with  him  he  determined  to  make  a  dash  to  some  point  nearer 
the  great  rebel  stronghold.  On  August  30  he  had  seized  the 
position  of  Waiquaidong,  where,  in  three  days,  he  threw  up 
stockades,  admirably  constructed,  and  which  could  not  have 
been  carried  save  by  a  great  effort  on  the  part  of  the  whole 
of  the  Soochow  garrison.  Toward  the  end  of  September, 
Major  Gordon,  fearing  lest  the  rebels,  who  had  now  the  sup- 
posed advantage  of  Burgevine's  presence  and  advice,  might 
make  some  attempt  to  cut  off  General  Ching's  lengthy  com- 
munications, moved  forward  to  Waiquaidong  to  support  him ; 
but  when  he  arrived  he  found  that  the  impatient  mandarin, 
encouraged  either  by  the  news  of  his  approach  or  at  the  in- 
action of  the  Taepings  in  Soochow,  had  made  a  still  further 
advance  of  two  miles,  so  that  he  was  only  1,000  yards  distant 
from  the  rebel  stockades  in  front  of  the  east  gate.     Major 


412  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

Gordon  had  at  this  time  been  re-enforced  by  the  Franco 
Chinese  corps,  which  had  been  well  disciplined,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Bonnefoy,  while  the  necessity  of  leav- 
ing any  strong  garrison  at  Quinsan  had  been  obviated  by  the 
loan  of  200  Belooches  from  General  Brown's  force.  The 
rebel  position  having  been  carefully  reconnoitered,  both  on 
the  east  and  on  the  south,  Major  Gordon  determined  that 
the  first  step  necessary  for  its  proper  beleaguerment  was  to 
seize  and  fortify  the  village  of  Patachiaou,  about  one  mile 
south  of  the  city  wall.  The  village,  although  strongly  stock- 
aded, was  evacuated  by  the  garrison  after  a  feeble  resistance, 
and  an  attempt  to  recover  it  a  few  hours  later  by  Mow  Wang 
in  person  resulted  in  a  rude  repulse  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
effective  fire  of  the  "Hyson."  Burgevine,  instead  of  fight- 
ing the  battles  of  the  failing  cause  he  had  adopted,  was 
traveling  about  the  country :  at  one  moment  in  the  capital 
interviewing  Tien  Wang  and  his  ministers,  at  another  going 
about  in  disguise  even  in  the  streets  of  Shanghai.  But  dur- 
ing the  weeks  when  General  Ching  might  have  been  taken 
at  a  disadvantage,  and  when  it  was  quite  possible  to  recover 
some  of  the  places  which  had  been  lost,  he  was  absent  from 
the  scene  of  military  operations.  After  the  capture  of  Pata- 
chiaou most  of  the  troops  and  the  steamers  that  had  taken 
it  were  sent  back  to  Waiquaidong,  but  Major  Gordon  re- 
mained there  with  a  select  body  of  his  men  and  three  howitz- 
ers. The  rebels  had  not  resigned  themselves  to  the  loss  of 
Patachiaou,  and  on  October  1  they  made  a  regular  attempt 
to  recover  it.  They  brought  the  "Kajow"  into  action,  and, 
as  it  had  found  a  daring  commander  in  a  man  named  Jones, 
its  assistance  proved  very  considerable.  They  had  also  a 
32-pounder  gun  on  board  a  junk,  and  this  enabled  them  to 
overcome  the  fire  of  Gordon's  howitzers  and  also  of  the 
'Hyson,"  which  arrived  from  Waiquaidong  during  the  en- 
gagement. But  notwithstanding  the  superiority  of  their 
artillery,  the  rebels  hesitated  to  come  to  close  quarters,  and 
when  Major  Gordon  and  Captain  Bonnefoy  led  a  sortie 
against  them  at  the  end  of  the  day  they  retired  precipitately. 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  413 

At  this  stage  Burgevine  wrote  to  Major  Gordon  two  let- 
ters— the  first  exalting  the  Taepings,  and  the  second  written 
two  days  later  asking  for  an  interview,  whereupon  he  ex- 
pressed his  desire  to  surrender  on  the  provision  of  personal 
safety.  He  assigned  the  state  of  his  health  as  the  cause  of 
this  change,  but  there  was  never  the  least  doubt  that  the 
true  reason  of  this  altered  view  was  dissatisfaction  with  his 
treatment  by  the  Taeping  leaders  and  a  conviction  of  the 
impossibility  of  success.  Inside  Soochow,  and  at  Nankin, 
it  was  possible  to  see  with  clearer  eyes  than  at  Shanghai  that 
the  Taeping  cause  was  one  that  could  not  be  resuscitated. 
But  although  Burgevine  soon  and  very  clearly  saw  the  hope- 
lessness of  the  Taeping  movement,  he  had  by  no  means  made 
up  his  mind  to  go  over  to  the  imperialists.  With  a  consid- 
erable number  of  European  followers  at  his  beck  and  call, 
and  with  a  profound  and  ineradicable  contempt  for  the  whole 
Chinese  official  world,  he  was  loth  to  lose  or  surrender  the 
position  which  gave  him  a  certain  importance.  He  vacil- 
lated between  a  number  of  suggestions,  and  the  last  he  came 
to  was  the  most  remarkable,  at  the  same  time  that  it  revealed 
more  clearly  than  any  other  the  vain  and  meretricious  char- 
acter of  the  man.  In  his  second  interview  with  Major  Gor- 
don he  proposed  that  that  officer  should  join  him,  and  com- 
bining the  whole  force  of  the  Europeans  and  the  disciplined 
Chinese,  seize  Soochow,  and  establish  an  independent  au- 
thority of  their  own.  It  was  the  old  filibustering  idea, 
revived  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances,  of  fight- 
ing for  their  own  hand,  dragging  the  European  name  in  the 
dirt,  and  founding  an  independent  authority  of  some  vague, 
undefinable  and  transitory  character.  Major  Gordon  list- 
ened to  the  unfolding  of  this  scheme  of  miserable  treachery, 
and  only  his  strong  sense  of  the  utter  impossibility,  and  in- 
deed the  ridiculousness  of  the  project,  prevented  his  contempt 
and  indignation  finding  forcible  expression.  Burgevine,  the 
traitor  to  the  imperial  cause,  the  man  whose  health  would 
not  allow  him  to  do  his  duty  to  his  new  masters  in  Soochow, 
thus  revealed  his  plan  for  defying  all  parties,  and  for  decid- 


414  ^1    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

ing  the  fate  of  the  Dragon  Throne.  The  only  reply  he 
received  was  the  cold  one  that  it  would  be  better  and  wiser 
to  confino  his  attention  to  the  question  of  whether  he  in- 
tended to  yield  or  not,  instead  of  discussing  idle  schemes 
of  "vaulting  ambition." 

Meantime,  Chung  Wang  had  come  down  from  Nankin 
to  superintend  the  defense  of  Soochow ;  and  in  face  of  a  more 
capable  opponent  he  still  did  not  despair  of  success,  or  at  the 
least  of  making  a  good  fight  of  it.  He  formed  the  plan  of 
assuming  the  offensive  against  Chanzu  while  General  Ching 
was  employed  in  erecting  his  stockades  step  by  step  nearer 
to  the  eastern  wall  of  Soochow.  In  order  to  prevent  the 
realization  of  this  project  Major  Gordon  made  several  dem- 
onstrations on  the  western  side  of  Soochow,  which  had  the 
effect  of  inducing  Chung  "Wang  to  defer  his  departure.  At 
this  conjuncture  serious  news  arrived  from  the  south.  A 
large  rebel  force,  assembled  from  Chekiang  and  the  silk  dis- 
tricts south  of  the  Taho  Lake,  had  moved  up  the  Grand  Canal 
and  held  the  garrison  of  Wokong  in  close  leaguer.  On 
October  10  the  imperialists  stationed  there  made  a  sortie, 
but  were  driven  back  with  the  loss  of  several  hundred  men 
killed  and  wounded.  Their  provisions  were  almost  ex- 
hausted, and  it  was  evident  that  unless  relieved  they  could 
not  hold  out  many  days  longer.  On  October  12  Major  Gor- 
don therefore  hastened  to  their  succor.  The  rebels  held  a 
position  south  of  "Wokong,  and,  as  they  felt  sure  of  a  safe 
retreat,  they  fought  with  great  determination.  The  battle 
lasted  three  hours;  the  guns  had  to  be  brought  up  to  within 
fifty  yards  of  the  stockade,  and  the  whole  affair  is  described 
as  one  of  the  hardest  fought  actions  of  the  war.  On  the 
return  of  the  contingent  to  Patachiaou,  about  thirty  Eu- 
ropeans deserted  the  rebels,  but  Burgevine  and  one  or  two 
others  were  not  with  them.  Chung  Wang  had  seized  the 
opportunity  of  Gordon's  departure  for  the  relief  of  Wokong 
to  carry  out  his  scheme  against  Chanzu.  Taking  the  "Ka- 
jow"  with  him,  and  a  considerable  number  of  the  foreign 
adventurers,   he  reached  Monding,   where  the  imperialists 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  415 

were  strongly  intrenched  at  the  junction  of  the  main  creek 
from  Chanzu  with  the  Canal.  He  attacked  them,  and  a 
severely  contested  struggle  ensued,  in  which  at  first  the 
Taepings  carried  everything  before  them.  But  the  fortune 
of  the  day  soon  veered  round.  The  "Kajow"  was  sunk  by 
a  lucky  shot,  great  havoc  was  wrought  by  the  explosion  of  a 
powder-boat,  and  the  imperialists  remained  masters  of  a  hard- 
fought  field.  The  defection  of  the  Europeans  placed  Burge- 
vine  in  serious  peril,  and  only  Major  Gordon's  urgent  rep- 
resentations and  acts  of  courtesy  to  the  Mow  "Wang  saved 
his  life.  The  Taeping  leader,  struck  by  the  gallantry  and 
fair  dealing  of  the  English  officer,  set  Burgevine  free,  and 
the  American  consul  thanked  Major  Gordon  for  his  great 
kindness  to  that  misguided  officer.  Burgevine  came  out  of 
the  whole  complication  with  a  reputation  in  every  way  tar- 
nished. He  had  not  even  the  most  common  courage  which 
would  have  impelled  him  to  stay  in  Soochow  and  take  the 
chances  of  the  party  to  which  he  had  attached  himself. 
"Whatever  his  natural  talents  might  have  been,  his  vanity 
and  weakness  obscured  them  all.  With  the  inclination  to 
create  an  infinity  of  mischief,  it  must  be  considered  fortu- 
nate that  his  ability  was  so  small,  for  his  opportunities  were 
abundant. 

The  conclusion  of  the  Burgevine  incident  removed  a 
weight  from  Major  Gordon's  mind.  Established  on  the  east 
and  south  of  Soochow,  he  determined  to  secure  a  similar 
position  on  its  western  side,  when  he  would  be  able  to  inter- 
cept the  communications  still  held  by  the  garrison  across  the 
Taho  Lake.  In  order  to  attain  this  object  it  was  necessary, 
in  the  first  place,  to  carry  the  stockades  at  Wuliungchow,  a 
village  two  miles  west  of  Patachiaou.  The  place  was  cap- 
tured at  the  first  attack  and  successfully- held,  notwithstand- 
ing a  fierce  attempt  to  recover  it  under  the  personal  direction 
of  Chung  Wang,  who  returned  for  the  express  purpose 
This  success  was  followed  by  others.  Another  large  body 
of  rebels  had  come  up  from  the  south  and  assailed  the  gar- 
rison of  Wokong.     On  October  26  one  of  Gordon's  lieuten- 


416  A   SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

ants,  Major  Kirkham,  inflicted  a  severe  defeat  upon  them, 
and  vigorously  pursued  them  for  several  miles.  The  next 
operation  undertaken  was  the  capture  of  the  village  of 
Leeku,  three  miles  north  of  Soochow,  as  the  preliminary 
to  investing  the  city  on  the  north.  Here  Major  Gordon  re- 
sorted to  his  usual  flanking  tactics,  and  with  conspicuous 
success.  The  rebels  fought  well;  one  officer  was  killed  at 
Gordon's  side,  and  the  men  in  the  stockade  were  cut  down 
with  the  exception  of  about  forty,  who  were  made  prisoners. 
Soochow  was  then  assailed  on  the  northern  as  well  as  on  the 
other  sides,  but  Chung  Wang's  army  still  served  to  keep 
open  communications  by  means  of  the  Grand  Canal.  That 
army  had  its  principal  quarters  at  Wusieh,  where  it  was 
kept  in  check  by  a  large  imperialist  force  under  Santajin, 
Li's  brother,  who  had  advanced  from  Kongyin  on  the  Yang- 
tse.  Major  Gordon's  main  difficulty  now  arose  from  the  in- 
sufficiency of  his  force  to  hold  so  wide  an  extent  of  country; 
and  in  order  to  procure  a  re-enforcement  from  Santajin,  he 
agreed  to  assist  that  commander  against  his  able  opponent 
Chung  Wang.  With  a  view  to  accomplishing  this  the  Tae- 
ping  position  at  Wanti,  two  miles  north  of  Leeku,  was 
attacked  and  captured. 

At  this  stage  of  the  campaign  there  were  13,500  men 
round  Soochow,  and  of  these  8,500  were  fully  occupied  in  the 
defense  of  the  stockades,  leaving  the  very  small  number  of 
5,000  men  available  for  active  measures  in  the  field.  On  the 
other  hand,  Santajin  had  not  fewer  than  20,000,  and  pos- 
sibly as  many  as  30,000  men  under  his  orders.  But  the  Tae- 
pings  still  enjoyed  the  numerical  superiority.  They  had 
40,000  men  in  Soochow,  20,000  at  Wusieh,  and  Chung  Wang 
occupied  a  camp,  half-way  between  these  places,  with  18,000 
followers.  The  presence  of  Chung  Wang  was  also  estimated 
to  be  worth  a  corps  of  5,000  soldiers.  Had  Gordon  been  free 
to  act,  his  plan  of  campaign  would  have  been  simple  and 
decisive.  He  would  have  effected  a  junction  of  his  forces 
with  Santajin,  he  would  have  overwhelmed  Chung  Wang's 
18,000  with  his  combined  arr  j  of  double  that  strength,  Mid 


THE    TAEPINQ    REBELLION.  41? 

he  would  have  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  victorious  troops 
before  the  bewildered  garrison  of  Wusieh.  It  would  prob- 
ably have  terminated  the  campaign  at  a  stroke.  Even  the 
decisive  defeat  of  Chung  Wang  alone  might  have  entailed 
the  collapse  of  the  cause  now  tottering  to  its  fall.  But  Major 
Gordon  had  to  consider  not  merely  the  military  quality  of 
his  allies,  but  also  their  jealousies  and  differences.  General 
Ching  hated  Santajin  on  private  grounds  as  well  as  on  pub- 
lic. He  desired  a  monopoly  of  the  profit  and  honor  of  the 
campaign.  His  own  reputation  would  be  made  by  the  cap- 
ture of  Soochow.  It  would  be  diminished  and  cast  into  the 
shade  were  another  imperial  commander  to  defeat  Chung 
Wang  and  close  the  line  of  the  Grand  Canal.  Were  Gordon 
to  detach  himself  from  General  Ching  he  could  not  feel  sure 
what  that  jealous  and  impulsive  commander  would  do.  He 
would  certainly  not  preserve  the  vigilant  defensive  before 
Soochow  necessary  to  insure  the  safety  of  the  army  operating 
to  the  north.  The  commander  of  the  Ever- Victorious  Army 
had  consequently  to  abandon  the  tempting  idea  of  crushing 
Chung  Wang  and  to  have  recourse  to  slower  methods. 

On  November  19  Major  Gordon  collected  the  whole  of 
his  available  force  to  attack  Fusaiquan,  a  place  on  the  Grand 
Canal  six  miles  north  of  Soochow.  Here  the  rebels  had 
barred  the  Canal  at  three  different  points,  while  on  the  banks 
they  occupied  eight  earthworks,  which  were  fortunately  in  a 
very  incomplete  state.  A  desperate  resistance  was  expected 
from  the  rebels  at  this  advantageous  spot,  but  they  preferred 
their  safety  to  their  duty,  and  retreated  to  Wusieh  with 
hardly  any  loss.  In  consequence  of  this  reverse  Chung 
Wang  withdrew  his  forces  from  his  camp  in  face  of  Santajin, 
and  concentrated  his  men  at  Monding  and  Wusieh  for  the 
defense  of  the  Grand  Canal.  The  investment  of  Soochow 
being  now  as  complete  as  the  number  of  troops  under  the 
imperial  standard  would  allow  of,  Major  Gordon  returned  to 
General  Ching's  stockades  in  front  of  that  place,  with  the 
view  of  resuming  the  attack  on  the  eastern  gate.  General 
Ching  and  Captain  Bonnefoy  had  met  with  a  slight  repulse 


418  A   SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

there  on  October  14.  The  stockade  in  front  of  the  east  gate 
was  known  by  the  name  of  the  Low  Mun,  and  had  been 
strengthened  to  the  best  knowledge  of  the  Taeping  engineers. 
Their  position  was  exceedingly  formidable,  consisting  of  a  line 
of  breastworks  defended  at  intervals  with  circular  stockades. 
Major  Gordon  decided  upon  making  a  night  attack  and  he  ar- 
ranged his  plans  from  the  information  provided  by  the  Euro- 
pean and  other  deserters  who  had  been  inside.  The  Taepings 
were  not  without  their  spies  and  sympathizers  also,  and 
the  intended  attempt  was  revealed  to  them.  The  attack  was 
made  at  two  in  the  morning  of  November  27,  but  the  rebels 
had  mustered  in  force  and  received  Major  Gordon's  men 
with  tremendous  volleys.  Even  then  the  disciplined  troops 
would  not  give  way,  and  encouraged  by  the  example  of  their 
leader  who  seemed  to  be  at  the  front  and  at  every  point  at 
the  same  moment,  fairly  held  their  own  on  the  edge  of  the 
enemy's  position.  Unfortunately  the  troops  in  support  be- 
haved badly,  and  got  confused  from  the  heavy  fire  of  the 
Taepings,  which  never  slackened.  Some  of  them  absolutely 
retired  and  others  were  landed  at  the  wrong  places.  Major 
Gordon  had  to  hasten  to  the  rear  to  restore  order,  and  during 
his  absence  the  advanced  guard  were  expelled  from  their 
position  by  a  forward  movement  led  by  Mow  Wang  in  per- 
son. The  attack  had  failed,  and  there  was  nothing  to  do 
save  to  draw  off  the  troops  with  as  little  further  loss  as  pos- 
sible. This  was  Major  Gordon's  first  defeat,  but  it  was  so 
evidently  due  to  the  accidents  inseparable  from  a  night  at- 
tempt, and  to  the  fact  that  the  surprise  had  been  revealed, 
that  it  produced  a  less  discouraging  effect  on  officers  and 
men  than  might  have  seemed  probable.  Up  to  this  day 
Major  Gordon  had  obtained  thirteen  distinct  victories  be- 
sides the  advantage  in  many  minor  skirmishes. 

Undismayed  by  this  reverse  Major  Gordon  collected  all 
his  troops  and  artillery  from  the  other  stockades,  and  resolved 
to  attack  the  Low  Mun  position  with  his  whole  force.  He 
also  collected  all  his  heavy  guns  and  mortars  and  cannonaded 
the  rebel  stockade  for  some  time ;   but  on  an  advance  being 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  419 

ordered  the  assailants  were  compelled  to  retire  by  the  fire 
which  the  Taepings  brought  to  bear  on  them  from  every 
available  point.  Chung  Wang  had  hastened  down  from 
Wusieh  to  take  part  in  the  defense  of  what  was  rightly 
regarded  as  the  key  of  the  position  at  Soochow,  and  both  he 
and  Mow  Wang  superintended  in  person  the  defense  of  the 
Low  Mun  stockade.  After  a  further  cannonade  the  advance 
was  again  sounded,  but  this  second  attack  would  also  have 
failed  had  not  the  officers  and  men  boldly  plunged  into  the 
moat  or  creek  and  swum  across.  The  whole  of  the  stock- 
ades and  a  stone  fort  were  then  carried,  and  the  imperial 
forces  firmly  established  at  a  point  only  900  yards  from  the 
inner  wall  of  Soochow.  Six  officers  and  fifty  men  were 
killed,  and  three  officers,  five  Europeans,  and  128  men 
were  wounded  in  this  successful  attack.  The  capture  of  the 
Low  Mun  stockades  meant  practically  the  fall  of  Soochow. 
Chung  Wang  then  left  it  to  its  fate,  and  all  the  other  Wangs 
except  Mow  Wang  were  in  favor  of  coming  to  terms  with 
the  imperialists.  Even  before  this  defeat  Lar  Wang  had 
entered  into  communications  with  General  Ching  for  coming 
over,  and  as  he  had  the  majority  of  the  troops  at  Soochow 
under  his  orders  Mow  Wang  was  practically  powerless, 
although  resolute  to  defend  the  place  to  the  last.  Several 
interviews  took  place  between  the  Wangs  and  General  Ching 
and  Li  Hung  Chang.  Major  Gordon  also  saw  the  former, 
and  had  one  interview  with  Lar  Wang  in  person.  The  En- 
glish officer  proposed  as  the  most  feasible  plan  his  surrender- 
ing one  of  the  gates.  During  all  this  period  Major  Gordon 
had  impressed  on  both  of  his  Chinese  colleagues  the  impera- 
tive necessity  there  was,  for  reasons  of  both  policy  and  pru- 
dence, to  deal  leniently  and  honorably  by  the  rebel  chiefs. 
All  seemed  to  be  going  well.  General  Ching  took  an  oath 
of  brotherhood  with  Lar  Wang,  Li  Hung  Chang  agreed 
with  everything  that  fell  from  Gordon's  lips.  The  only 
one  exempted  from  this  tacit  understanding  was  Mow  Wang, 
always  in  favor  of  fighting  it  out  and  defending  the  town  j 
and  his  name  was  not  mentioned  for  the  simple  reason  that 


420  A    SHORT  HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  negotiations.  For  Mow 
Wang  Major  Gordon  had  formed  the  esteem  due  to  a  gallant 
enemy,  and  he  resolved  to  spare  no  effort  to  save  his  life. 
His  benevolent  intentions  were  thwarted  by  the  events  that 
had  occurred  within  Soochow.  Mow  Wang  had  been  mur- 
dered by  the  other  Wangs,  who  feared  that  he  might  detect 
their  plans  and  prevent  their  being  carried  out.  The  death 
of  Mow  Wang  removed  the  only  leader  who  was  heartily 
opposed  to  the  surrender  of  Soochow,  and  on  the  day  after 
this  chief's  murder  the  imperialists  received  possession  of 
one  of  the  gates.  The  inside  of  the  city  had  been  the  scene 
of  the  most  dreadful  confusion.  Mow  Wang's  men  had 
sought  to  avenge  their  leader's  death,  and  on  the  other  hand 
the  followers  of  Lar  Wang  had  shaved  their  heads  in  token 
of  their  adhesion  to  the  imperialist  cause.  Some  of  the  more 
prudent  of  the  Wangs,  not  knowing  what  turn  events  might 
take  amid  the  prevailing  discord,  secured  their  safety  by  a 
timely  flight.  Major  Gordon  kept  his  force  well  in  hand, 
and  refused  to  allow  any  of  the  men  to  enter  the  city,  where 
they  would  certainly  have  exercised  the  privileges  of  a  mer- 
cenary force  in  respect  of  pillage.  Instead  of  this  Major 
Gordon  endeavored  to  obtain  for  them  two  months'  pay  from 
the  Futai,  which  that  official  stated  his  inability  to  procure. 
Major  Gordon  thereupon  resigned  in  disgust,  and  on  suc- 
ceeding in  obtaining  one  month's  pay  for  his  men,  he  sent 
them  back  to  Quinsan  without  a  disturbance. 

The  departure  of  the  Ever- Victorious  Army  for  its  head- 
quarters was  regarded  by  the  Chinese  officials  with  great 
satisfaction,  and  for  several  reasons.  In  the  flush  of  the  suc- 
cess at  Soochow  both  that  force  and  its  commander  seemed 
in  the  way  of  the  Futai,  and  to  diminish  the  extent  of  his 
triumph.  Neither  Li  nor  Ching  also  had  the  least  wish  for 
any  of  the  ex-rebel  chiefs,  men  of  ability  and  accustomed  to 
command,  to  be  taken  into  the  service  of  the  government. 
Of  men  of  that  kind  there  were  already  enough.  General 
Ching  himself  was  a  sufficiently  formidable  rival  to  the 
Futai,  without  any  assistance  and  encouragement  from  Lar 


THE    TAEPING    REBELLION.  421 

Wang  and  the  others.  Li  had  no  wish  to  save  them  from 
the  fate  of  rebels;  and  although  he  had  promised,  and  Gen- 
eral Ching  had  sworn  to,  their  personal  safety,  he  was  benl 
on  getting  rid  of  them  in  one  way  or  another.  He  feared 
Major  Gordon,  but  he  also  thought  that  the  time  had  arrived 
when  he  could  dispense  with  him  and  the  foreign-drilled 
legion  in  the  same  way  as  he  had  got  rid  of  Sherard  Osborn 
and  his  fleet.  The  departure  of  the  Quinsan  force  left  him 
free  to  follow  his  own  inclination.  The  Wangs  were  invited 
to  an  entertainment  at  the  Futai's  boat,  and  Major  Gordon 
saw  them  both  in  the  city  and  subsequently  when  on  their 
way  to  Li  Hung  Chang.  The  exact  circumstances  of  their 
fate  were  never  known ;  but  nine  headless  bodies  were  dis* 
covered  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  and  not  far  distant 
from  the  Futai's  quarters.  It  then  became  evident  that  Lar 
Wang  and  his  fellow  Wangs  had  been  brutally  murdered. 
Major  Gordon  was  disposed  to  take  the  office  of  their  avenger 
into  his  own  hands,  but  the  opportunity  of  doing  so  fortu- 
nately did  not  present  itself.  He  hastened  back  to  Quinsan, 
where  he  refused  to  act  any  longer  with  such  false  and  dis- 
honorable colleagues.  The  matter  was  reported  to  Pekin. 
Both  the  mandarins  sought  to  clear  themselves  by  accusing 
the  other;  and  a  special  decree  came  from  Pekin  conferring 
on  the  English  officer  a  very  high  order  and  the  sum  of  10,- 
000  taels.  Major  Gordon  returned  the  money,  and  expressed 
his  regret  at  being  unable  to  accept  any  token  of  honor  from 
the  emperor  in  consequence  of  the  Soochow  affair. 

A  variety  of  reasons,  all  equally  creditable  to  Major 
Gordon's  judgment  and  single-mindedness,  induced  him 
after  two  months'  retirement  to  abandon  his  inaction  and 
to  sink  his  difference  with  the  Futai.  He  saw  very  clearly 
that  the  sluggishness  of  the  imperial  commanders  would 
result  in  the  prolongation  of  the  struggle  with  all  its  at- 
tendant evils,  whereas,  if  he  took  the  field,  he  would  be 
able  to  bring  it  to  a  conclusion  within  two  months.  More- 
over, the  Quinsan  force,  never  very  amenable  to  discipline, 
shook  off  all  restraint  when  in  quarters,  and  promised  to 


422  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CIII.XA. 

become  as  dangerous  to  the  government  in  whose  pay  it 
was  as  to  the  enemy  against  whom  it  was  engaged  to  fight. 
Major  Gordon,  in  view  of  these  facts,  came  to  the  prompt 
decision  that  it  was  his  duty,  and  the  course  most  calculated 
to  do  good,  for  him  to  retake  the  field  and  strive  as  ener- 
getically as  possible  to  expel  the  rebels  from  the  small  part 
of  Kiangsu  still  remaining  in  their  possession.  On  Febru- 
ary 18,  1864,  he  accordingly  left  Quinsan  at  the  head  of 
his  men,  who  showed  great  satisfaction  at  the  return  to  ac- 
tive campaigning.  Wusieh  had  been  evacuated  on  the  fall 
of  Soochow,  and  Chung  "Wang's  force  retired  to  Changchow, 
while  that  chief  himself  returned  to  Nankin.  A  few  weeks 
later  General  Ching  had  seized  Pingwang,  thus  obtaining 
the  command  of  another  entrance  into  the  Taho  Lake.  San- 
tajin  established  his  force  in  a  camp  not  far  distant  from 
Changchow,  and  engaged  the  rebels  in  almost  daily  skir- 
mishes. This  was  the  position  of  affairs  when  Major  Gordon 
took  the  field  toward  the  end  of  February,  and  he  at  once 
resolved  to  carry  the  war  into  a  new  country  by  crossing  the 
Taho  Lake  and  attacking  the  town  of  Yesing  on  its  western 
shores.  By  seizing  this  and  the  adjoining  towns  he  hoped 
to  cut  the  rebellion  in  two,  and  to  be  able  to  attack  Chang 
chow  in  the  rear.  The  operations  at  Yesing  occupied  two 
days ;  but  at  last  the  rebel  stockades  were  carried  with  tre- 
mendous loss  not  only  to  the  defenders,  but  also  to  a  reliev- 
ing force  sent  from  Liyang.  Five  thousand  prisoners  were 
also  taken.  Liyang  itself  was  the  next  place  to  be  attacked ; 
but  the  intricacy  of  the  country,  which  was  intersected  by 
creeks  and  canals,  added  to  the  fact  that  the  whole  region 
had  been  desolated  by  famine,  and  that  the  rebels  had  broken 
all  the  bridges,  rendered  this  undertaking  one  of  great  diffi- 
culty and  some  risk.  However,  Major  Gordon's  fortitude 
vanquished  all  obstacles,  and  when  he  appeared  before  Li- 
yang he  found  that  the  rebel  leaders  in  possession  of  the 
town  had  come  to  the  decision  to  surrender.  At  this  place 
Major  Gordon  came  into  communication  with  the  general 
Paochiaou,  who  was  covering  the  siege  operations  against 


THE   TAEPING   REBELLION.  423 

Nankin,  which  Tseng  Kwofan  was  pressing  with  ever-in- 
creasing vigor.  The  surrender  of  Liyang  proved  the  more 
important,  as  the  fortifications  were  found  to  be  admirably 
constructed,  and  as  it  contained  a  garrison  of  fifteen  thou- 
sand men  and  a  plentiful  supply  of  provisions.  From  Li- 
yang Major  Gordon  marched  on  Kintang,  a  town  due  north 
of  Liyang,  and  about  half-way  between  Changchow  and 
Nankin.  The  capture  of  Kintang,  by  placing  Gordon's 
force  within  striking  distance  of  Changchow  and  its  com- 
munications, would  have  compelled  the  rebels  to  suspend 
these  operations  and  recall  their  forces.  Unfortunately  the 
attack  on  Kintang  revealed  unexpected  difficulties.  The 
garrison  showed  extraordinary  determination;  and  although 
the  wall  was  breached  by  the  heavy  fire,  two  attempts  to 
assault  were  repulsed  with  heavy  loss,  the  more  serious  in  • 
asmuch  as  Major  Gordon  was  himself  wounded  below  the 
knee,  and  compelled  to  retire  to  his  boat.  This  was  the 
second  defeat  Gordon  had  experienced. 

In  consequence  of  this  reverse,  which  dashed  the  cup  of 
success  from  Gordon's  hands  when  he  seemed  on  the  point 
of  bringing  the  campaign  to  a  close  in  the  most  brilliant 
manner,  the  force  had  to  retreat  to  Liyang,  whence  the 
commander  hastened  back  with  one  thousand  men  to  Wusieh. 
He  reached  Wusieh  on  the  25th  of  March,  four  days  after 
the  repulse  at  Kintang,  and  he  there  learned  that  Fushan 
had  been  taken  and  that  Chanzu  was  being  closely  attacked. 
The  imperialists  had  fared  better  in  the  south.  General 
Ching  had  captured  Kashingfoo,  a  strong  place  in  Chekiang, 
and  on  the  very  same  day  as  the  repulse  at  Kintang,  Tso 
Tsung  Tang  had  recovered  Hangchow.  Major  Gordon,  al- 
though still  incapacitated  by  his  wound  from  taking  his 
usual  foremost  place  in  the  battle,  directed  all  operations 
from  his  boat.  He  succeeded,  after  numerous  skirmishes, 
in  compelling  the  Taepings  to  quit  their  position  before 
Chanzu ;  but  they  drew  up  in  force  at  the  village  of  Waisso, 
where  they  offered  him  battle.  Most  unfortunately,  Major 
Gordon  had  to  intrust  the  conduct  of  the  attack  to  his  lieu- 


424  A    SHORT    HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

tenants,  Colonels  Howard  and  Rhodes,  while  he  superin- 
tended the  advance  of  the  gunboats  up  the  creek.  Finding 
the  banks  were  too  high  to  admit  of  these  being  useful^ 
employed,  and  failing  to  establish  communications  with  the 
infantry,  he  discreetly  returned  to  his  camp,  where  he  found 
everything  in  the  most  dreadful  confusion  owing  to  a  ter- 
rible disaster.  The  infantry,  in  fact,  had  been  outmaneu- 
vered  and  routed  with  tremendous  loss.  Seven  officers  and 
265  men  had  been  killed,  and  one  officer  and  sixty-two  men 
wounded.  Such  an  overwhelming  disaster  would  have 
crushed  any  ordinary  commander,  particularly  when  com- 
ing so  soon  after  such  a  rude  defeat  as  that  at  Kintang.  It 
only  roused  Major  Gordon  to  increased  activity.  He  at  once 
took  energetic  measures  to  retrieve  this  disaster.  He  sent 
his  wounded  to  Quinsan,  collected  fresh  troops,  and,  having 
allowed  his  own  wound  to  recover  by  a  week's  rest,  resumed 
in  person  the  attack  on  Waisso.  On  April  10  Major  Gordon 
pitched  his  camp  within  a  mile  of  "Waisso,  and  paid  his  men 
as  the  preliminary  to  the  resumption  of  the  offensive.  The 
attack  commenced  on  the  following  morning,  and  promised 
to  prove  of  an  arduous  nature ;  but  by  a  skillful  flank  move- 
ment Major  Gordon  carried  two  stockades  in  person,  and 
rendered  the  whole  place  no  longer  tenable.  The  rebels 
evacuated  their  position  and  retreated,  glosely  pursued  by 
the  imperialists.  The  villagers,  who  bad  suffered  from 
their  exactions,  rose  upon  them,  and  very  few  rebels 
escaped.  The  pursuit  was  continued  for  a  week,  and  the 
/ately  victorious  army  of  "Waisso  was  practically  annihi- 
lated. The  capture  of  Changchow  was  to  be  the  next  and 
crowning  success  of  the  campaign.  For  this  enterprise  the 
whole  of  the  Ever- Victorious  Army  was  concentrated,  in- 
cluding the  ex-rebel  contingent  of  Liyang.  On  April  23 
Major  Gordon  carried  the  stockades  near  the  west  gate.  In 
their  capture  the  Liyang  men,  although  led  only  by  Chinese, 
showed  conspicuous  gallantry,  thus  justifying  Major  Gor- 
don's belief  that  the  Chinese  would  fight  as  well  under  their 
own  countrymen  as  when  led  by  foreigners.     Batteries  were 


THE    TAEPINQ    REBELLION.  425 

then  constructed  for  the  bombardment  of  the  town  itself. 
Before  these  were  completed  the  imperialists  assaulted,  but 
were  repulsed  with  loss.  On  the  following  day  (April  27) 
the  batteries  opened  fire,  and  two  pontoon  bridges  were 
thrown  across,  when  Major  Gordon  led  his  men  to  the  as- 
sault. The  first  attack  was  repulsed,  and  a  second  one, 
made  in  conjunction  with  the  imperialists,  fared  not  less 
badly.  The  pontoons  were  lost,  and  the  force  suffered  a 
greater  loss  than  at  any  time  during  the  war,  with  the 
exception  of  Waisso.  The  Taepings  also  lost  heavily;  and 
their  valor  could  not  alter  the  inevitable  result.  Chang- 
chow  had  consequently  to  be  approached  systematically  by 
trenches,  in  the  construction  of  which  the  Chinese  showed 
themselves  very  skillful.  The  loss  of  the  pontoons  compelled 
the  formation  of  a  cask-bridge ;  and,  during  the  extensive 
preparations  for  renewing  the  attack,  several  hundred  of 
the  garrison  came  over,  reporting  that  it  was  only  the  Can- 
tonese who  wished  to  fight  to  the  bitter  end.  On  May  11, 
the  fourth  anniversary  of  its  capture  by  Chung  Wang,  Li 
requested  Major  Gordon  to  act  in  concert  with  him  for  carry- 
ing the  place  by  storm.  The  attack  was  made  in  the  middle 
of  the  day,  to  the  intense  surprise  of  the  garrison,  who  made 
only  a  feeble  resistance,  and  the  town  was  at  last  carried 
with  little  loss.  The  commandant,  Hoo  Wang,  was  made 
prisoner  and  executed.  This  proved  to  be  the  last  action  of 
the  Ever- Victorious  Army,  which  then  returned  to  Quinsan, 
and  was  quietly  disbanded  by  its  commander  before  June  1. 
To  sum  up  the  closing  incidents  of  the  Taeping  war.  Ta- 
yan  was  evacuated  two  days  after  the  fall  of  Changchow, 
leaving  Nankin  alone  in  their  hands.  Inside  that  city  there 
were  the  greatest  misery  and  suffering.  Tien  Wang  had 
refused  to  take  any  of  the  steps  pressed  on  him  by  Chung 
Wang,  and  when  he  heard  the  people  were  suffering  from 
want,  all  he  said  was,  "Let  them  eat  the  sweet  dew.'*  Tseng 
Kwofan  drew  up  his  lines  on  all  sides  of  the  city,  and  grad 
ually  drove  the  despairing  rebels  behind  the  walls.  Chung 
Wang  sent  out  the  old  women  and  children ;  and  let  it  be 


426  A    SHORT  HISTORY  Oi    CHINA. 

recorded  to  the  credit  of  Tseng  Kwotsiuen  that  he  did  not 
drive  them  back,  but  charitably  provided  for  their  wants, 
and  dispatched  them  to  a  place  of  shelter.  In  June  Major 
Gordon  visited  Tseng's  camp,  and  found  his  works  covering 
twenty-four  to  thirty  miles,  and  constructed  in  the  most 
elaborate  fashion.  The  imperialists  numbered  80,000  men, 
but  were  badly  armed.  Although  their  pay  was  very  much 
in  arrear,  they  were  well  fed,  and  had  great  confidence  in 
their  leader,  Tseng  Kwofan.  On  June  30,  Tien  Wang,  de- 
spairing of  success,  committed  suicide  by  swallowing  golden 
leaf.  Thus  died  the  Hungtsiuen  who  had  erected  the  stand- 
ard of  revolt  in  Kwangsi  thirteen  years  before.  His  son  was 
proclaimed  Tien  Wang  on  his  death  becoming  known,  but 
his  reign  was  brief.  The  last  act  of  all  had  now  arrived. 
On  July  19  the  imperialists  had  run  a  gallery  under  the  wall 
of  Nankin,  and  charged  it  with  40, 000  pounds  of  powder.  The 
explosion  destroyed  fifty  yards  of  the  walls,  and  the  impe- 
rialists, attacking  on  all  sides,  poured  in  through  the  breach. 
Chung  Wang  made  a  desperate  resistance  in  the  interior, 
holding  his  own  and  the  Tien  Wang's  palace  to  the  last. 
He  made  a  further  stand  with  a  thousand  men  at  the  south- 
ern gate,  but  his  band  was  overwhelmed,  and  he  and  the 
young  Tien  Wang  fled  into  the  surrounding  country.  In 
this  supreme  moment  of  danger  Chung  Wang  thought  more 
of  the  safety  of  his  young  chief  than  of  himself,  and  he  gave 
him  an  exceptionally  good  pony  to  escape  on,  while  he  him, 
self  took  a  very  inferior  animal.  As  the  consequence  Tien 
Wang  the  Second  escaped,  while  Chung  Wang  was  captured 
in  the  hills  a  few  days  later.  Chung  Wang,  who  had  cer- 
tainly been  the  hero  of  the  Taeping  movement,  was  beheaded 
on  August  7,  and  the  young  Tien  Wang  was  eventually  cap- 
tured and  executed  also,  by  Shen  Paochen.  For  this  decisive 
victory,  which  extinguished  the  Taeping  Rebellion,  Tseng 
Kwofan,  whom  Gordon  called  "generous,  fair,  honest  and 
patriotic,"  was  made  a  Hou,  or  Marquis,  and  his  brother 
Tseng  Kwotsiuen  an  Earl. 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  impression  made  by 


THE  REGENCY.  427 

Gordon's  disinterestedness  on  the  Chinese  people,  who  ele- 
vated him  for  his  courage  and  military  prowess  to  the  pedes- 
tal of  a  national  god  of  war.  The  cane  which  he  carried 
when  leading  his  men  to  the  charge  became  known  as  "Gor- 
don's wand  of  victory";  and  the  troops  whom  he  trained, 
and  converted  by  success  from  a  rabble  into  an  army,  formed 
the  nucleus  of  China's  modern  army.  The  service  he  ren- 
dered his  adopted  country  was,  therefore,  lasting  as  well  as 
striking,  and  the  gratitude  of  the  Chinese  has,  to  their  credit, 
proved  not  less  durable.  The  name  of  Gordon  is  still  one  to 
conjure  with  among  the  Chinese,  and  if  ever  China  were 
placed  in  the  same  straits,  she  would  be  the  more  willing, 
from  his  example,  to  intrust  her  cause  to  an  English  officer. 
As  to  the  military  achievements  of  General  Gordon  in  China 
nothing  fresh  can  be  said.  They  speak  indeed  for  them- 
selves, and  they  form  the  most  solid  portion  of  the  reputa- 
tion which  he  gained  as  a  leader  of  men.  In  the  history  of 
the  Manchu  dynasty  he  will  be  known  as  "Chinese  Gordon"; 
although  for  us  his  earlier  sobriquet  must  needs  give  place, 
from  his  heroic  and  ever-regrettable  death,  to  that  of  "Gor- 
don of  Khartoum." 


CHAPTER   XXI 

THE  REGENCY 

"While  the  suppression  of  the  Taeping  Rebellion  was  in 
progress,  events  of  great  interest  and  importance  happened 
at  Pekin.  It  will  be  recollected  that  when  the  allied  forces 
approached  that  city  in  1860,  the  Emperor  Hienfung  fled  to 
Jehol,  and  kept  himself  aloof  from  all  the  peace  negotiations 
which  were  conducted  to  a  successful  conclusion  by  his 
brother,  Prince  Kung.  After  the  signature  of  the  conven- 
tion in  Pekin,  ratifying  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin,  he  refused 
to  return  to  his  capital ;  and  he  even  seems  to  have  hoped 
that  he  might,  by  asserting  his  imperial  prerogative,  trans- 
fer the  capital  from  Pekin  to  Jehol,  and  thus  evade  one  of 


428  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

the  principal  concessions  to  the  foreigners.  But  if  this  was 
impossible,  he  was  quite  determined,  for  himself,  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  them,  and  during  the  short  remainder 
of  his  life  he  kept  his  court  at  Jehol.  "While  his  brother  was 
engaged  in  meeting  the  difficulties  of  diplomacy,  and  in  ar- 
ranging the  conditions  of  a  novel  situation,  Hienfung,  by 
collecting  round  his  person  the  most  bigoted  men  of  his 
family,  showed  that  he  preferred  those  counselors  who 
had  learned  nothing  from  recent  events,  and  who  would 
support  him  in  his  claims  to  undiminished  superiority  and 
inaccessibility.  Prominent  among  the  men  in  his  confi- 
dence was  Prince  Tsai,  who  had  taken  so  discreditable  a 
part  in  the  arrest  of  Parkes  and  his  companions  at  Tung- 
chow,  and  among  his  other  advisers  were  several  inexperi- 
enced and  impetuous  members  of  the  Manchu  family.  They 
were  all  agreed  in  the  policy  of  recovering,  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment,  what  they  considered  to  be  the  natural  and 
prescriptive  right  of  the  occupant  of  the  Dragon  Throne  to 
treat  all  other  potentates  as  in  no  degree  equal  to  himself. 
No  respect  for  treaties  would  have  deterred  them  from  re- 
asserting what  had  solemnly  been  signed  away,  and  the  per- 
manent success  of  the  faction  at  Jehol  would  have  entailed, 
within  a  comparatively  short  period,  the  outbreak  of  another 
foreign  war.  But  the  continued  residence  of  the  emperor  at 
Jehol  was  not  popular  with  either  his  own  family  or  the 
inhabitants  of  Pekin.  The  members  of  the  Manchu  clan, 
who  received  a  regular  allowance  during  the  emperor's  resi- 
dence at  Pekin,  were  reduced  to  the  greatest  straits,  and  even 
to  the  verge  of  starvation,  while  the  Chinese  naturally  re- 
sented the  attempt  to  remove  the  capital  to  any  other  place. 
This  abnegation  of  authority  by  Hienfung,  for  his  absence 
meant  nothing  short  of  that,  could  not  have  been  prolonged 
indefinitely,  for  a  Chinese  emperor  has  many  religious  and 
secular  duties  to  perform  which  no  one  else  can  discharge, 
and  which,  if  not  discharged,  would  reduce  the  office  of  em- 
peror to  a  nonentity.  Prince  Tsai  and  his  associates  had  no 
difficulty  in  working  upon  the  fears  of  this  prince,  who  held 


THE   REGENCY.  429 

the  most  exalted  idea  of  his  own  majesty,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  had  not  the  power  or  knowledge  to  vindicate  it. 

While  such  were  the  views  prevailing  in  the  imperial  cir- 
cle at  Jehol,  arrangements  were  in  progress  for  the  taking 
up  of  his  residence  at  Pekin  of  the  British  minister.  After 
Lord  Elgin's  departure,  his  brother,  Sir  Frederick  Bruce, 
who  was  knighted  for  his  share  in  the  negotiations,  was  ap- 
pointed first  occupant  of  the  post  of  minister  in  the  Chinese 
capital,  and  on  March  22,  1861,  he  left  Tientsin  for  Pekin. 
Mr.  "Wade  accompanied  Sir  Frederick  as  principal  secretary, 
and  the  staff  included  six  student  interpreters,  whose  ranks, 
constantly  recruited,  have  given  many  able  men  to  the  public 
service.  Before  Sir  Frederick  reached  the  capital,  the  Chi- 
nese minister  had  taken  a  step  to  facilitate  the  transaction 
of  business  with  the  foreign  representatives.  Prince  Kung 
— and  the  credit  of  the  measure  belongs  exclusively  to  him — 
will  always  be  gratefully  remembered  by  any  foreign  writer 
on  modern  China  as  the  founder  of  the  department  known 
as  the  Tsungli  Yamen,  which  he  instituted  in  January,  1861. 
This  department,  since  its  institution,  has  very  fully  answered 
all  the  expectations  formed  of  it ;  and,  although  it  is  errone- 
ous to  represent  it  as  in  any  sense  identical  with  the  Chinese 
government,  or  as  the  originating  source  of  Chinese  policy, 
it  has  proved  a  convenient  and  well-managed  vehicle  for  the 
dispatch  of  international  business.  Prince  Kung  became  its 
first  president,  and  acted  in  that  capacity  until  his  fall  frois* 
power  in  1884. 

Before  long,  reports  began  to  be  spread  of  the  serious 
illness  of  the  emperor.  In  August  Prince  Kung  hastened 
to  Jehol,  the  object  of  his  journey  being  kept  secret. 
The  members  of  the  Tsungli  Yamen  were  observed  by  the 
foreign  officials  to  be  pre-occupied,  and  even  the  genial 
Wansiang  could  not  conceal  that  they  were  passing  through 
a  crisis.  Not  merely  was  Hienfung  dying,  but  it  had  be- 
come known  to  Prince  Kung  and  his  friends  that  he  had 
left  the  governing  authority  during  the  minority  of  his  son, 
a  child  of  less  than  six  years  of  age,  to  a  board  of  regency 


430  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

composed  of  eight  of  the  least  intelligent  and  most  arrogant 
and  self-seeking  members  of  the  imperial  family,  with  Prince 
Tsai  at  their  head.  The  emperor  died  on  August  22.  A  few 
hours  later  the  imperial  decree  notifying  the  last  wishes  of 
the  ruler  as  to  the  mode  of  government  was  promulgated. 
The  board  of  regency  assumed  the  nominal  control  of  affairs, 
and  Hienfung's  son  was  proclaimed  emperor  under  the  style 
of  Chiseang.  In  all  of  these  arrangements  neither  Prince 
Kung  nor  his  brothers,  nor  the  responsible  ministers  at  the 
capital,  had  had  the  smallest  part.  It  was  an  intrigue 
among  certain  members  of  the  imperial  clan  to  possess 
themselves  of  the  ruling  power,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed 
as  if  their  intrigue  would  be  only  too  successful.  Nothing 
happened  during  the  months  of  September  and  October  to 
disturb  their  confidence,  for  they  remained  at  Jehol,  and  at 
Pekin  the  routine  of  government  continued  to  be  performed 
by  Prince  Kung.  That  statesman  and  his  colleagues  em- 
ployed the  interval  in  arranging  their  own  plan  of  action, 
and  in  making  sure  of  the  fidelity  of  a  certain  number  of 
troops.  Throughout  these  preparations  Prince  Kung  was 
ably  and  energetically  supported  by  his  brother,  Prince  Chun, 
by  his  colleague,  Wansiang,  and  by  his  aged  father-in-law, 
the  minister  Kweiliang.  But  the  conspirators  could  not  keep 
the  young  emperor  at  Jehol  indefinitely,  and  when,  at  the 
end  of  October,  it  became  known  that  he  was  on  the  point 
of  returning  to  Pekin,  it  was  clear  that  the  hour  of  conflict 
had  arrived.  At  Jehol  the  Board  of  Regency  could  do  little 
harm ;  but  once  its  pretensions  and  legality  were  admitted 
at  the  capital,  all  the  ministers  would  have  to  take  their 
orders  from  it,  and  to  resign  the  functions  which  they  had 
retained.  The  main  issue  was  whether  Prince  Kung  or 
Prince  Tsai  was  to  be  supreme.  On  November  1  the  young 
emperor  entered  his  capital  in  state.  A  large  number  of 
soldiers,  still  dressed  in  their  white  mourning,  accompanied 
their  sovereign  from  Jehol;  but  Shengpao's  garrison  was 
infinitely  more  numerous,  and  thoroughly  loyal  to  the  cause 
of  Prince  Kung.     The  majority  of  the  regents  had  arrived 


THE   REGENCY.  431 

with  the  reigning  prince ;  those  who  had  not  yet  come  were 
on  the  road,  escorting  the  dead  body  of  Hienfung  toward  its 
resting-place.  If  a  blow  was  to  be  struck  at  all  now  was  the 
time  to  strike  it.  The  regents  had  not  merely  placed  them- 
selves in  the  power  of  their  opponent,  but  they  had  actually 
brought  with  them  the  young  emperor,  without  whose  per- 
son Prince  Kung  could  have  accomplished  little.  Prince 
Kung  had  spared  no  effort  to  secure,  and  had  fortunately 
succeeded  in  obtaining,  the  assistance  and  co-operation  of 
the  Empress  Dowager,  Hienfung's  principal  widow,  named 
Tsi  An.  Her  assent  had  been  obtained  to  the  proposed  plot 
before  the  arrival  in  Pekin,  and  it  now  only  remained  to 
carry  it  out.  On  the  day  following  the  entry  into  the  capi- 
tal, Prince  Kung  hastened  to  the  palace,  and,  producing  be- 
fore the  astonished  regents  an  Imperial  Edict  ordering  their 
dismissal,  he  asked  them  whether  they  obeyed  the  decree 
of  their  sovereign,  or  whether  he  must  call  in  his  soldiers 
to  compel  them.  Prince  Tsai  and  his  companions  had  no 
choice  save  to  signify  their  acquiescence  in  what  they  could 
not  prevent;  but,  on  leaving  the  chamber  in  which  this 
scene  took  place,  they  hastened  toward  the  emperor's  apart- 
ment in  order  to  remonstrate  against  their  dismissal,  or  to 
obtain  from  him  some  counter-edict  reinstating  them  in  their 
positions.  They  were  prevented  from  carrying  out  their  pur-, 
pose,  but  this  proof  of  contumacy  sealed  their  fate.  They 
were  promptly  arrested,  and  a  second  decree  was  issued  or- 
dering their  degradation  from  their  official  and  hereditary 
rank.  To  Prince  Kung  and  his  allies  was  intrusted  the 
charge  of  trying  and  punishing  the  offenders. 

The  next  step  was  the  proclamation  of  a  new  regency, 
composed  of  the  two  empresses,  Tsi  An,  principal  widow  of 
Hienfung,  and  Tsi  Thsi,  mother  of  the  young  emperor.  Two 
precedents  for  the  administration  being  intrusted  to  an  em- 
press were  easily  found  by  the  Hanlin  doctors  during  the 
Ming  dynasty,  when  the  Emperors  Chitsong  and  Wanleh 
were  minors.  Special  edicts  were  issued  and  arrangements 
made  for  the  transaction  of  business  during  the  continuance 


432  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

of  the  regency,  and  as  neither  of  the  empresses  knew  Man- 
chu,  it  was  specially  provided  that  papers  and  documents, 
which  were  always  presented  in  that  language,  should  be 
translated  into  Chinese.  Concurrently  with  these  measures 
for  the  settlement  of  the  regency  happened  the  closing  scenes 
in  the  drama  of  conspiracy  which  began  so  successfully  at 
Jehol  and  ended  so  dramatically  at  Pekin.  For  complete 
success  and  security  it  was  necessary  that  all  the  ringleaders 
should  be  captured,  and  some  of  them  were  still  free. 

The  bravest,  if  not  the  ablest,  of  the  late  Board  of  Re- 
gency, Sushuen,  remained  at  large.  He  had  been  charged 
with  the  high  and  honorable  duty  of  escorting  the  remains 
of  Hienfung  to  the  capital.  It  was  most  important  that  he 
should  be  seized  before  he  became  aware  of  the  fate  that 
had  befallen  his  colleagues.  Prince  Chun  volunteered  to 
capture  the  last,  and  in  a  sense  the  most  formidable,  of  the 
intriguers  himself,  and  on  the  very  day  that  the  events  de- 
scribed happened  at  Pekin  he  rode  out  of  the  capital  at  the 
head  of  a  body  of  Tartar  cavalry.  On  the  following  night 
Prince  Chun  reached  the  spot  where  he  was  encamped,  and, 
breaking  into  the  house,  arrested  him  while  in  bed.  Sushuen 
did  not  restrain  his  indignation,  and  betrayed  the  ulterior 
plans  entertained  by  himself  and  his  associates  by  declaring 
that  Prince  Chun  had  been  only  just  in  time  to  prevent  a 
similar  fate  befalling  himself.  He  was  at  once  placed  on 
his  trial  with  the  other  prisoners,  and  on  November  10  the 
order  was  given  in  the  emperor's  name  for  their  execution. 
Sushuen  was  executed  on  the  public  ground  set  apart  for 
that  purpose ;  but  to  the  others,  as  a  special  favor  from  their 
connection  with  the  imperial  family,  was  sent  the  silken  cord, 
with  which  they  were  permitted  to  put  an  end  to  their  exist- 
ence. In  the  fate  of  Prince  Tsai  may  be  seen  a  well  merited 
retribution  for  his  treachery  and  cruelty  to  Sir  Harry  Parkes 
and  his  companions. 

Another  important  step  which  had  to  be  taken  was  the 
alteration  of  the  style  given  to  the  young  emperor's  reign. 
It  was  felt  to  be  impolitic  that  the  deposed  ministers  should 


THE  REGENCY.  433 

retain  any  connection  whatever  in  history  with  the  young 
ruler.  Were  Hienfung's  son  to  be  handed  down  to  poster- 
ity as  Chiseang  there  would  be  no  possibility  of  excluding 
their  names  and  their  brief  and  feverish  ambition  from  the 
national  annals.  After  due  deliberation,  therefore,  the  name 
of  Tungche  was  substituted  for  that  of  Chiseang,  and  mean- 
ing, as  it  does,  "the  union  of  law  and  order,"  it  will  be  al- 
lowed that  the  name  was  selected  with  some  proper  regard 
for  the  circumstances  of  the  occasion.  Prince  Kung  was  re- 
warded with  many  high  offices  and  sounding  titles  in  addi- 
tion to  the  post  of  chief  minister  under  the  two  empresses. 
He  was  made  president  of  the  Imperial  Clan  Court  in  the 
room  of  Prince  Tsai,  and  the  title  of  Iching  "Wang,  or  Prince 
Minister,  was  conferred  upon  him.  His  stanch  friends  and 
supporters,  "Wansiang,  Paukwen,  and  Kweiliang,  were  ap- 
pointed to  the  Supreme  Council.  Prince  Chun,  to  whose 
skill  and  bravery  in  arresting  Sushuen  Prince  Kung  felt 
very  much  indebted,  was  also  rewarded.  With  these  inci- 
dents closed  what  might  have  proved  a  grave  and  perilous 
complication  for  the  Chinese  government.  Had  Prince 
Kung  prematurely  revealed  his  plans  there  is  every  rea- 
son to  suppose  that  he  would  have  alarmed  and  forewarned 
his  rivals,  and  that  they,  with  the  person  of  the  emperor  in 
their  possession,  would  have  obtained  the  advantage.  His 
patience  during  the  two  months  of  doubt  and  anxiety  while 
the  emperor  remained  at  Jehol  was  matched  by  the  vigor 
and  promptitude  that  he  displayed  on  the  eventful  2d  of  No- 
vember. That  his  success  was  beneficial  to  his  country  will 
not  be  disputed  by  any  one,  and  Prince  Kung's  name  must 
be  permanently  remembered  both  for  having  commenced, 
and  for  having  insured  the  continuance  of,  diplomatic  rela- 
tions with  England  and  the  other  foreign  powers. 

The  increased  intercourse  with  Europeans  not  merely  led 
to  greater  diplomatic  confidence  and  to  the  extension  of 
trade,  but  it  also  induced  many  foreigners  to  offer  their 
services  and  assistance  to  the  Pekin  government  during  the 
embarrassment  arising  from  internal  dissension.      At  first 

IQ 


434  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

these  persons  were,  as  has  been  seen,  encouraged  and  em 
ployed  more  in  consequence  of  local  opinion  in  the  treaty- 
ports  than  as  a  matter  of  State  policy.  But  already  the  sug- 
gestion had  been  brought  forward  in  more  than  one  form  for 
the  employment  of  foreigners,  with  the  view  of  increasing 
the  resources  of  the  government  by  calling  in  the  assistance 
of  the  very  agency  which  had  reduced  them.  A  precedent 
had  been  established  for  this  at  an  earlier  period — before,  in 
fact,  the  commencement  of  hostilities — by  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  Horatio  N".  Lay  to  direct  and  assist  the  local  author- 
ities in  the  collection  of  customs  in  the  Shanghai  district. 
Mr.  Lay's  experience  had  proved  most  useful  in  drawing  up 
the  tariff  of  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin,  and  his  assistance  had 
been  suitably  acknowledged.  In  1862,  when  the  advantages 
to  be  derived  from  the  military  experience  of  foreigners  had 
been  practically  recognized  by  the  appointment  of  Europeans 
to  command  a  portion  of  the  army  of  China,  and  in  pur- 
suance of  a  suggestion  made  by  the  present  Sir  Robert  Hart 
in  the  previous  year,  it  was  thought  desirable  for  many  rea- 
sons that  something  should  also  be  done  to  increase  the  naval 
resources  of  the  empire,  and  Mr.  Lay  was  intrusted  with  a 
commission  for  purchasing  and  collecting  in  Europe  a  fleet 
of  gunboats  of  small  draught,  which  could  be  usefully  em- 
ployed for  all  the  purposes  of  the  Pekin  government  on  the 
rivers  and  shallow  estuaries  of  the  country.  Mr.  Lay,  who 
undertook  the  commission,  said,  "This  force  was  intended 
for  the  protection  of  the  treaty-ports,  for  the  suppression  of 
piracy  then  rife,  and  for  the  relief  of  this  country  from  the 
burden  of  'policing'  the  Chinese  waters";  but  its  first  use  in 
the  eyes  of  Prince  Kung  was  to  be  employed  against  the 
rebels  and  their  European  supporters  of  whom  Burgevine 
was  the  most  prominent.  Captain  Sherard  Osborn,  a  dis- 
tinguished English  naval  officer,  was  associated  with  Mr. 
Lay  in  the  undertaking.  An  Order  of  Council  was  issued 
on  August  30,  1862,  empowering  both  of  these  officers  to  act 
in  the  matter  as  delegates  of  the  Chinese.  Captain  Osborn 
and  Mr.  Lay  came  to  England  to  collect  the  vessels  of  this 


THE   REGENCY.  435 

fleet,  and  the  former  afterward  returned  with  them  to  China 
in  the  capacity  of  their  commodore.  The  transaction  was 
not  well  managed  from  the  very  commencement.  Mr.  Lay 
wrote  in  August,  1862,  to  say  that  he  had  chosen  as  the  na- 
tional ensign  of  the  Chinese  nary  "a  green  flag,  bearing  a 
yellow  diagonal  cross,"  and  he  wrote  again  to  request  that 
an  official  notification  should  appear  in  the  "Gazette."  Had 
his  request  been  complied  with,  there  would  have  been  very 
strong  reason  for  assuming  that  the  English  government 
was  prepared  to  support  and  facilitate  every  scheme  for 
forcing  the  Chinese  to  accept  and  submit  to  the  exact  method 
of  progress  approved  of  and  desired  by  the  European  servants 
of  their  government,  without  their  taking  any  part  in  the 
transaction  save  to  ratify  terms  that  might  be  harsh  and 
exorbitant.  Fortunately,  the  instinctive  caution  of  our  For- 
eign Office  was  not  laid  aside  on  this  occasion.  Mr.  Lay  was 
informed  that  no  notice  could  appear  in  the  "London  Ga- 
zette" except  after  the  approval  of  the  Pekin  authorities  had 
been  expressed;  and  Prince  Kung  wrote,  on  October  22,  to 
say  that  the  Chinese  ensign  would  be  of  "yellow  ground, 
and  on  it  will  be  designed  a  dragon  with  his  head  toward  the 
upper  part  of  the  flag."  Mr.  Lay  preceded  the  vessels — 
seven  gunboats  and  one  store-ship — and  arrived  at  Pekin  in 
May,  1863. 

Prince  Kung  had  been  most  anxious  for  the  speedy  arrival 
of  the  flotilla;  and  the  doubtful  fortune  of  the  campaign  in 
Kiangsu,  where  the  gunboats  would  have  been  invaluable, 
rendered  him  extremely  desirous  that  they  should  commence 
active  operations  immediately  on  arrival.  But  he  found,  in 
the  first  place,  that  Mr.  Lay  was  not  prepared  to  accept  the 
appointment  of  a  Chinese  official  as  joint-commander,  and 
in  the  second  place,  that  he  would  not  receive  orders  from 
any  of  the  provincial  authorities.  Such  a  decision  was  mani- 
festly attended  with  the  greatest  inconvenience  to  China ;  for 
only  the  provincial  authorities  knew  what  the  interests  of  the 
State  demanded,  and  where  the  fleet  might  co-operate  with 
advantage  in  the  attacks  on  the  Taepings.     Unless  Captain 


436  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

Osborn  were  to  act  on  the  orders  of  Tsen  Kwofan,  and  par- 
ticularly of  Li  Hung  Chang,  it  was  difficult  to  see  of  what 
possible  use  he  or  his  flotilla  could  be  to  China.  The  found- 
ers of  the  new  Chinese  navy  claimed  practically  all  the  privi- 
leges of  an  ally,  and  declined  the  duties  devolving  on  them 
as  directing  a  department  of  the  Chinese  administration. 
Of  course,  it  was  more  convenient  and  more  dignified  for  the 
foreign  officers  to  draw  their  instructions  and  their  salaries 
direct  from  the  fountain-head;  but  if  the  flotilla  was  not  to 
be  of  any  practical  use  to  China  it  might  just  as  well  never 
have  been  created.  The  fleet  arrived  in  safety,  but  remained 
inactive.  The  whole  summer  and  autumn  of  1863,  with  its 
critical  state  of  affairs  round  Soochow,  passed  away  without 
anything  being  done  to  show  what  a  powerful  auxiliary  Mr. 
Lay's  ships  might  be.  The  ultimate  success  of  those  opera- 
tions without  the  smallest  co-operation  on  the  part  of  Captain 
Osborn  or  his  flotilla  virtually  sealed  its  fate.  In  October, 
"Wansiang,  in  the  name  of  the  Foreign  Office,  declared  that 
the  Chinese  could  not  recognize  or  ratify  the  private  arrange- 
ment between  Mr.  Lay  and  his  naval  officer,  and  that  it  was 
essential  for  Captain  Osborn  to  submit  to  receive  his  instruc- 
tions from  the  provincial  authorities.  In  the  following  month 
Mr.  Lay  was  summarily  dismissed  from  the  Chinese  service, 
and  it  was  determined,  after  some  delay  and  various  counter 
suggestions,  to  send  back  the  ships  to  Europe,  there  to  be 
disposed  of.  The  radical  fault  in  the  whole  arrangement  had 
been  Mr.  Lay's  wanting  to  take  upon  himself  the  responsi- 
bility not  merely  of  Inspector-General  of  Customs,  but  also 
of  supreme  adviser  on  all  matters  connected  with  foreign 
questions.  The  Chinese  themselves  were  to  take  quite  a 
subordinate  part  in  their  realization,  and  were  to  be  treated, 
in  short,  as  if  they  did  not  know  how  to  manage  their  own 
affairs.  Mr.  Lay's  dreams  were  suddenly  dispelled,  and  his 
philanthropic  schemes  fell  to  the  ground.  Neither  Prince 
Kung  nor  his  colleagues  had  any  intention  to  pave  the  way 
for  their  own  effacement. 

After  Mr.  Lay's  departure  the  Maritime  Oustomc  wer* 


THE   REGENCY.  437 

placed  under  the  control  of  Mr.  Robert  Hart,  who  had  acted 
during  Mr.  Lay's  absence  in  Europe.  This  appointment  was 
accompanied  by  the  transfer  of  the  official  residence  from 
Pekin  to  Shanghai,  which  was  attended  with  much  practical 
advantage.  Already  the  customs  revenue  had  risen  to  three 
millions,  and  trade  was  steadily  expanding  as  the  rebels  were 
gradually  driven  back,  and  as  the  Yangtsekiang  and  the 
coasts  became  safer  for  navigation.  Numerous  schemes  were 
suggested  for  the  opening  up  of  China  by  railways  and  the 
telegraph;  but  they  all  very  soon  ended  in  nothing,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  the  Chinese  did  not  want  them.  They 
were  more  sincere  and  energetic  in  their  adoption  of  military 
improvements. 

The  anxieties  of  Prince  Kung  on  the  subject  of  the  dy- 
nasty, and  with  regard  to  the  undue  pretensions  and  expecta- 
tions of  the  foreign  officials  who  looked  on  the  Chinese  merely 
as  the  instruments  of  their  self-aggrandizement,  were  further 
increased  during  this  period  by  the  depredations  of  the 
Nienfei  rebels  in  the  province  of  Shantung.  During  these 
operations  Sankolinsin  died,  leaving  Tseng  Kwofan  in  undis- 
puted possession  of  the  first  place  among  Chinese  officials. 
Sankolinsin,  when  retreating  after  a  reverse,  was  treacher- 
ously murdered  by  some  villagers  whose  hospitality  he  had 
claimed. 

The  events  of  this  introductory  period  may  be  appro- 
priately concluded  with  the  strange  stroke  of  misfortune  that 
befell  Prince  Kung  in  the  spring  of  1865,  and  which  seemed 
to  show  that  he  had  indulged  some  views  of  personal  ambi- 
tion. The  affair  had  probably  a  secret  history,  but  if  so  the 
truth  is  hardly  likely  to  be  ever  known.  The  known  facts 
were  as  follows :  On  April  2,  1865,  there  appeared  an  edict 
degrading  the  prince  in  the  name  of  the  two  regent-em- 
presses. The  charge  made  against  him  was  of  having  grown 
arrogant  and  assumed  privileges  to  which  he  had  no  right. 
He  was  at  first  "diligent  and  circumspect,"  but  he  has  now 
become  disposed  "to  overrate  his  own  importance."  In  con- 
sequence, he  was  deprived  of  all  his  appointments  and  dis- 


438  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

missed  from  the  scene  of  public  affairs.  Five  weeks  after 
his  fall,  however,  Prince  Kung  was  reinstated,  on  May  8,  in 
all  his  offices,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  President  of  the 
Council.  This  episode,  which  might  have  produced  grave 
complications,  closed  with  a  return  to  almost  the  precise 
state  of  things  previously  existing.  There  was  one  impor- 
tant difference.  The  two  empresses  had  asserted  their  pre- 
dominance. Prince  Kung  had  hoped  to  be  supreme,  and  to 
rule  uncontrolled.  From  this  time  forth  he  was  content 
to  be  their  minister  and  adviser,  on  terms  similar  to  those 
that  would  have  applied  to  any  other  official. 

The  year  1865,  which  witnessed  this  very  interesting 
event  in  the  history  of  the  Chinese  government,  beheld  be- 
fore its  close  the  departure  of  Sir  Frederick  Bruce  from 
Pekin,  and  the  appointment  of  Sir  Rutherford  Alcock,  who 
had  been  the  first  British  minister  to  Japan  during  the  crit- 
ical period  of  the  introduction  of  foreign  intercourse  with 
that  country,  to  fill  the  post  of  Resident  Minister  at  Pekin. 
Sir  Rutherford  Alcock  then  found  the  opportunity  to  put  in 
practice  some  of  the  honorable  sentiments  to  which  he  had 
given  expression  twenty  years  before  at  Shanghai.  When 
Sir  Rutherford  left  Yeddo  for  Pekin,  the  post  of  Minister 
in  Japan  was  conferred  on  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  who  had  been 
acting  as  consul  at  Shanghai  since  the  conclusion  of  the  war. 
The  relations  between  the  countries  were  gradually  settling 
down  on  a  satisfactory  basis,  and  the  appointment  of  a  Su- 
preme Court  for  China  and  Japan  at  Shanghai,  with  Sir 
Edmund  Hornby  as  Chief  Judge,  promised  to  enforce  obe- 
dience to  the  law  among  even  the  unsettled  adventurers  of 
different  nationalities  left  by  the  conclusion  of  the  Taeping 
Rebellion  and  the  cessation  of  piracy  without  a  profitable 
pursuit. 

While  the  events  which  have  been  set  forth  were  hap- 
pening in  the  heart  of  China,  other  misfortunes  had  befallen 
the  executive  in  the  more  remote  quarters  of  the  realm,  but 
resulting  none  the  less  in  the  loss  and  ruin  of  provinces,  and 
in  the  subversion  of  the  emperor's  authority.     Two  great 


THE    REGENCY.  439 

uprisings  of  the  people  occurred  iu  opposite  directions,  both 
commencing  while  the  Taeping  Rebellion  was  in  full  force, 
and  continuing  to  disturb  the  country  for  many  years  after 
its  suppression.  The  one  had  for  its  scene  the  great  south- 
western province  of  Yunnan;  the  other  the  two  provinces 
of  the  northwest,  Shensi  and  Kansuh,  and  extending  thence 
westward  to  the  Pamir.  They  resembled  each  other  in  one 
point,  and  that  was  that  they  were  instigated  and  sustained 
by  the  Mohammedan  population  alone.  The  Panthays  and 
the  Tungani  were  either  indigenous  tribes  or  foreign  immi- 
grants who  had  adopted  or  imported  the  tenets  of  Islam. 
Their  sympathies  with  the  Pekin  government  were  probably 
never  very  great,  but  they  were  impelled  in  both  cases  to 
revolt  more  by  local  tyranny  than  by  any  distinct  desire 
to  cast  off  the  authority  of  the  Chinese ;  but,  of  course,  the 
obvious  embarrassment  of  the  central  executive  encouraged 
by  simplifying  the  task  of  rebellion.  The  Panthay  rising 
calls  for  description  in  the  first  place,  because  it  began  at  an 
earlier  period  than  the  other,  and  also  because  the  details 
have  been  preserved  with  greater  fidelity.  Mohammedanism 
is  believed  to  have  been  introduced  into  Yunnan  in  or  about 
the  year  1275,  and  it  made  most  progress  among  the  so-called 
aboriginal  tribes,  the  Lolos  and  the  Mantzu.  The  officials 
were  mostly  Chinese  or  Tartars,  and,  left  practically  free 
from  control,  they  more  often  abused  their  power  than 
sought  to  employ  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  they  gov- 
erned. In  the  very  first  year  of  Hienfung's  reign  (1851)  a 
petition  reached  the  capital  from  a  Mohammedan  land  pro- 
prietor in  Yunnan  named  Ma  Wenchu,  accusing  the  em- 
peror's officials  of  the  gravest  crimes,  and  praying  that  "a 
just  and  honest  man"  might  be  sent  to  redress  the  wrongs 
of  an  injured  and  long-suffering  people.  The  petition  was 
carefully  read  and  favorably  considered  at  the  capital ;  but 
beyond  a  gracious  answer  the  emperor  was  at  the  time 
powerless  to  apply  a  remedy  to  the  evil.  Four  years  passed 
away  without  any  open  manifestation  of  the  deep  discontent 
smoldering  below  the  surface.     But  in  1855  the  Chinese  and 


44fl  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF    CHINA. 

the  Mohammedan  laborers  quarreled  in  one  of  the  principal 
mines  of  the  province,  which  is  covered  with  mines  of  gold, 
iron,  and  copper.  It  seems  that  the  greater  success  of  the 
Mohammedans  in  the  uncertain  pursuit  of  mining  had  roused 
the  displeasure  of  the  Chinese.  Disputes  ensued,  in  which 
the  Mussulmans  added  success  in  combat  to  success  in  min- 
ing ;  and  the  official  appointed  to  superintend  the  mines,  in- 
stead of  remaining  with  a  view  to  the  restoration  of  order, 
sought  his  personal  safety  by  precipitate  flight  to  the  town 
of  Yunnan.  During  his  absence  the  Chinese  population 
raised  a  levy  en  masse,  attacked  the  Mohammedans  who 
had  gained  a  momentary  triumph,  and  compelled  them  by 
sheer  weight  of  numbers  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat  to  their  own 
homes  in  a  different  part  of  the  province.  This  success  was 
the  signal  for  a  general  outcry  against  the  Mohammedans, 
who  had  long  been  the  object  of  the  secret  ill-will  of  the 
other  inhabitants.  Massacres  took  place  in  several  parts  of 
Yunnan,  and  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  had  to  flee  for 
their  lives. 

Among  those  who  were  slain  during  these  popular  dis- 
orders was  a  young  chief  named  Ma  Sucheng;  and  when  the 
news  of  his  murder  reached  his  native  village,  his  younger 
brother,  Ma  Sien,  who  had  just  received  a  small  military 
command,  declared  his  intention  to  avenge  him,  and  fled  to 
join  the  Mohammedan  fugitives  in  the  mountains.  In  this 
secure  retreat  they  rallied  their  forces,  and,  driven  to  des- 
peration by  the  promptings  of  want,  they  left  their  fastnesses 
with  the  view  of  regaining  what  they  had  lost.  In  this  they 
succeeded  better  than  they  could  have  hoped  for.  The  Chi- 
nese population  experienced  in  their  turn  the  bitterness  of 
defeat;  and  the  mandarins  had  the  less  difficulty  in  con- 
cluding a  temporary  understanding  between  the  exhausted 
combatants.  Tranquillity  was  restored,  and  the  miners  re- 
sumed their  occupations.  But  the  peace  was  deceptive,  and 
in  a  little  time  the  struggle  was  renewed  with  increased  fury. 
In  this  emergency  the  idea  occurred  to  some  of  the  officials 
that  an  easy  and  efficacious  remedy  of  the  difficulty  in  which 


THE   REGENCY.  441 

they  found  themselves  would  be  provided  by  the  massacre 
of  the  whole  Mussulman  population.  In  this  plot  the  fore- 
most part  was  taken  by  Hwang  Chung,  an  official  who  bit- 
terly hated  the  Mohammedans.  He  succeeded  in  obtaining 
the  acquiescence  of  all  his  colleagues  with  the  exception  of 
the  viceroy  of  the  province,  who  exposed  the  iniquity  of  the 
design,  but  who,  destitute  of  all  support,  was  powerless  to 
prevent  its  execution.  At  the  least  he  resolved  to  save  his 
honor  and  reputation  by  committing  suicide,  and  he  and  his 
wife  were  found  one  morning  hanging  up  in  the  hall  of  the 
yamen.  His  death  simplified  the  execution  of  the  project 
which  his  refusal  might  possibly  have  prevented.  May  19, 
1856,  was  the  date  fixed  for  the  celebration  of  this  Chinese 
St.  Bartholomew.  But  the  secret  had  not  been  well  kept. 
The  Mohammedans,  whether  warned  or  suspicious,  dis- 
trusted the  authorities  and  their  neighbors,  and  stood  vigi- 
lantly on  their  guard.  At  this  time  they  looked  chiefly  to  a 
high  priest  named  Ma  Tesing  for  guidance  and  instruction. 
But  although  on  the  alert,  they  were  after  all,  taken  to  some 
extent  by  surprise,  and  many  of  them  were  massacred  after 
a  more  or  less  unavailing  resistance.  But  if  many  of  the 
Mussulmans  were  slain,  the  survivors  were  inspired  with  a 
desperation  which  the  mandarins  had  never  contemplated. 
From  one  end  of  Yunnan  to  the  other  the  Mohammedans, 
in  face  of  great  personal  peril,  rose  by  a  common  and  spon- 
taneous impulse,  and  the  Chinese  population  was  compelled 
to  take  a  hasty  refuge  in  the  towns.  At  Talifoo,  where  the 
Mohammedans  formed  a  considerable  portion  of  the  popula 
tion,  the  most  desperate  fighting  occurred,  and  after  three 
days'  carnage  the  Mussulmans,  under  Tu  Wensiu,  were  left 
in  possession  of  the  city.  The  rebels  did  not  remain  without 
leaders,  whom  they  willingly  recognized  and  obeyed ;  for  the 
fcwanshihs,  or  chiefs,  who  had  accepted  titles  of  authority 
from  the  Chinese,  cast  off  their  allegiance  and  placed  them- 
selves at  the  head  of  the  popular  movement.  The  priest  Ma 
Tesing  was  raised  to  the  highest  post  of  all  as  Dictator,  but 
Tu  Wensiu    admitted   no    higher   authority  than  his  own 


442  A    SHORT  HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

within  the  walls  of  Talifoo.  Ma  Tesing  had  performed  the 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  he  had  resided  at  Constantinople  for 
two  years,  and  his  reputation  for  knowledge  and  saintliness 
stood  highest  among  his  co-religionists. 

"While  Ma  Tesing  exercised  the  supremacy  due  to  his  age 
and  attainments,  the  young  chief  Ma  Sien  led  the  rebels  in 
the  field.  His  energy  was  most  conspicuous,  and  in  the 
year  1858  he  thought  he  was  sufficiently  strong  to  make  an 
attack  upon  the  city  of  Yunnan  itself.  His  attack  was 
baffled  by  the  resolute  defense  of  an  officer  named  Lin 
Tzuchin,  who  had  shown  great  courage  as  a  partisan  leader 
against  the  insurgents  before  he  was  intrusted  with  the  de- 
fense of  the  provincial  capital.  Ma  Sien  was  compelled  to 
beat  a  retreat,  and  to  devote  himself  to  the  organization 
of  the  many  thousand  Ijen  or  Lolos  recruits  who  signified 
their  attachment  to  his  cause.  For  the  successful  defense  of 
Yunnan  Lin  was  made  a  Titu,  and  gradually  collected  into 
his  own  hands  such  authority  as  still  remained  to  the  em- 
peror's lieutenants.  On  both  sides  preparations  were  made 
for  the  renewal  of  the  struggle,  but  before  the  year  1858 
ended  Ma  Sien  met  with  a  second  repulse  at  the  town  of 
Linan.  The  year  1859  was  not  marked  by  any  event  of  sig- 
nal importance,  although  the  balance  of  success  inclined  on 
the  whole  to  the  Mussulmans.  But  in  the  following  year  the 
Mohammedans  drew  up  a  large  force,  computed  to  exceed 
50,000  men,  round  Yunnanfoo,  to  which  they  laid  vigorous 
siege.  The  imperialists  were  taken  at  a  disadvantage,  and 
the  large  number  of  people  who  had  fled  for  shelter  into  the 
town  rendered  the  small  store  of  provisions  less  sufficient  for 
a  protracted  defense.  Yunnanfoo  was  on  the  point  of  sur- 
render when  an  event  occurred  which  not  merely  relieved 
it  from  its  predicament,  but  altered  the  whole  complexion  of 
the  struggle.  The  garrison  had  made  up  its  mind  to  yield. 
Even  the  brave  Lin  had  accepted  the  inevitable,  and  begun 
to  negotiate  with  the  two  rebel  leaders,  Ma  Sien  and  the 
priest  Ma  Tesing.  Those  chiefs,  with  victory  in  their  grasp, 
manifested  an  unexpected  and  surprising  moderation.     In- 


THE    REGENCY.  443 

stead  of  demanding  from  Lin  a  complete  and  unconditional 
surrender,  they  began  to  discuss  with  him  what  terms  could 
be  agreed  upon  for  the  cessation  of  the  war  and  the  restora- 
tion of  tranquillity  to  the  province.  At  first  it  was  thought 
that  these  propositions  concealed  some  intended  treachery, 
but  their  sincerity  was  placed  beyond  dispute  by  the  suicide 
of  the  mandarin  Hwang  Chung,  who  had  first  instigated  the 
people  to  massacre  their  Mohammedan  brethren.  The  terms 
of  peace  were  promptly  arranged,  and  a  request  was  for- 
warded to  Pekin  for  the  ratification  of  a  convention  con- 
cluded under  the  pressure  of  necessity  with  some  of  the  rebel 
leaders.  The  better  to  conceal  the  fact  that  this  arrange- 
ment had  been  made  with  the  principal  leader  of  the  dis- 
affected, Ma  Sien  changed  his  name  to  Ma  Julung,  and 
received  the  rank  of  general  in  the  Chinese  service;  while 
the  high  priest  accepted  as  his  share  the  not  inconsiderable 
pension  of  two  hundred  taels  a  month.  It  is  impossible  to 
divine  the  true  reasons  which  actuated  these  instigators 
of  rebellion  in  their  decision  to  go  over  to  the  side  of  the 
government.  They  probably  thought  that  they  had  done 
sufficient  to  secure  all  practical  advantages,  and  that  any 
persistence  in  hostilities  would  only  result  in  the  increased 
misery  and  impoverishment  of  the  province.  Powerful  as 
they  were,  there  were  other  Mohammedan  leaders  seeking 
to  acquire  the  supreme  position  among  their  co-religionists ; 
and  foremost  among  these  was  Tu  Wensiu,  who  had  reduced 
the  whole  of  Western  Yunnan  to  his  sway,  and  reigned  at 
Talifoo.  The  Mohammedan  cause,  important  as  it  was,  did 
not  afford  scope  for  the  ambitions  of  two  such  men  as  Ma 
Julung  and  Tu  Wensiu.  The  former  availed  himself  of  the 
favorable  opportunity  to  settle  this  difficulty  in  a  practical 
and,  as  he  shrewdly  anticipated,  the  most  profitable  man- 
ner for  himself  personally,  by  giving  in  his  adhesion  to  the 
government. 

This  important  defection  did  not  bring  in  its  train  any 
certainty  of  tranquillity.  Incited  by  the  example  of  their 
leaders,  every  petty  officer  and  chief  thought  himself  de- 


*44  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

serving  of  the  highest  honors,  and  resolved  to  fight  for  his 
own  hand.  Ma  Julung  left  Yunnanfoo  for  the  purpose  of 
seizing  a  neighboring  town  which  had  revolted,  and  during 
his  absence  one  of  his  lieutenants  seized  the  capital,  mur- 
dered the  viceroy,  and  threatened  to  plunder  the  inhabitants. 
Ma  Julung  was  summoned  to  return  in  hot  haste,  and  as  a 
temporary  expedient  the  priest  Ma  Tesing  was  elected  vice- 
roy. When  Ma  Julung  returned  with  his  army  he  had  to 
lay  siege  to  Yunnanfoo,  and  although  he  promptly  effected 
an  entrance  into  the  city,  it  took  five  days'  hard  fighting  in 
the  streets  before  the  force  in  occupation  was  expelled.  The 
insurgent  officer  was  captured,  exposed  to  the  public  gaze 
for  one  month  in  an  iron  cage,  and  then  executed  in  a  cruel 
manner.  Ma  Tesing  was  deposed  from  the  elevated  position 
which  he  had  held  for  so  short  a  time,  and  a  new  Chinese 
viceroy  arrived  from  Kweichow.  The  year  1863  opened  with 
the  first  active  operations  against  Tu  Wensiu,  who,  during 
these  years  of  disorder  in  Central  Yunnan,  had  been  gov- 
erning the  western  districts  with  some  prudence.  It  would 
have  been  better  if  they  had  not  been  undertaken,  for  they 
only  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the  detachments  sent  by  Ma 
Julung  to  engage  the  despot  of  Talifoo.  Force  having  failed, 
they  had  recourse  to  diplomacy,  and  Ma  Tesing  was  sent  to 
sound  Tu  Wensiu  as  to  whether  he  would  not  imitate  their 
example  and  make  his  peace  with  the  authorities.  These 
overtures  were  rejected  with  disdain,  and  Tu  Wensiu  pro- 
claimed his  intention  of  holding  out  to  the  last,  and  refused 
to  recognize  the  wisdom  or  the  necessity  ©f  coming  to  terms 
with  the  government.  The  embarrassment  of  Ma  Julung 
and  the  Yunnan  officials,  already  sufficiently  acute,  was  at 
this  conjuncture  further  aggravated  by  an  outbreak  in  their 
rear  among  the  Miaotze  and  some  other  mountain  tribes  in 
the  province  of  Kweichow.  To  the  difficulty  of  coping  with 
a  strongly  placed  enemy  in  front  was  thus  added  that  of 
maintaining  communications  through  a  hostile  and  difficult 
region.  A  third  independent  party  had  also  come  into  exist- 
ence in  Yunnan,  where  an  ex-Chinese  official  named  Liang 


THE   REGENCY.  445 

Shihmei  had  set  up  his  own  authority  at  Linan,  mainly,  it 
was  said,  through  jealousy  of  the  Mohammedans  taken  into 
the  service  of  the  government.  The  greatest  difficulty  of  all 
was  to  reconcile  the  pretensions  of  the  different  commanders, 
for  the  Chinese  officials,  and  the  Futai  Tsen  Yuying  in  par- 
ticular, regarded  Ma  Julung  with  no  friendly  eye.  "With 
the  year  1867,  both  sides  having  collected  their  strength, 
more  active  operations  were  commenced,  and  Ma  Julung 
proceeded  in  person,  at  the  head  of  the  best  troops  he  could 
collect,  to  engage  Tu  Wensiu.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the 
imperialists  adopted  the  red  flag  as  their  standard  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  white  flag  of  the  insurgents.  A  desultory 
campaign  ensued,  but  although  Ma  Julung  evinced  both  cour- 
age and  capacity,  the  result  was  on  the  whole  unfavorable  to 
liim ;  and  he  had  to  retreat  to  the  capital,  where  events  of 
some  importance  had  occurred  during  his  absence  in  the 
field.  The  viceroy,  who  had  been  stanchly  attached  to  Ma 
Julung,  died  suddenly  and  under  such  circumstances  as  to 
suggest  a  suspicion  of  foul  play ;  and  Tsen  Yuying  had  by 
virtue  of  his  rank  of  Futai  assumed  the  temporary  discharge 
of  his  duties.  The  retreat  of  Ma  Julung  left  the  insurgents 
free  to  follow  up  their  successes ;  and,  in  the  course  of  1868, 
the  authority  of  the  emperor  had  disappeared  from  every 
part  of  the  province  except  the  prefecture!  city  of  Yunnan- 
foo.  This  bad  fortune  led  the  Mussulmans  who  had  fol- 
lowed the  advice  and  fortunes  of  Ma  Julung  to  consider 
whether  it  would  not  be  wise  to  rejoin  their  co-religionists, 
and  to  at  once  finish  the  contest  by  the  destruction  of  the 
government.  Had  Ma  Julung  wavered  in  his  fidelity  for 
a  moment  they  would  have  all  joined  the  standard  of  Tu 
Wensiu,  and  the  rule  of  the  Sultau  of  Talifoo  would  have 
been  established  from  one  end  of  Yunnan  to  the  other;  but 
he  stood  firm  and  arrested  the  movement  in  a  summary 
manner. 

Tu  Wensiu,  having  established  the  security  of  his  com- 
munications with  Burmah,  whence  he  obtained  supplies  of 
arms  and  munitions  of  war,  devoted  his  efforts  to  the  cap* 


446  A    SHORT    HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

ture  of  Yunnanfoo,  which  he  completely  invested.  The 
garrison  was  reduced  to  the  lowest  straits  before  Tsen  Yu- 
ying  resolved  to  come  to  the  aid  of  his  distressed  colleague. 
The  loss  of  the  prefectural  town  would  not  merely  entail 
serious  consequences  to  the  imperialist  cause,  but  he  felt  it 
would  personally  compromise  him  as  the  Futai  at  Pekin.  In 
the  early  part  of  1869,  therefore,  he  threw  himself  into  the 
town  with  three  thousand  men,  and  the  forces  of  Tu  Wensiu 
found  themselves  obliged  to  withdraw  from  the  eastern  side 
of  the  city.  A  long  period  of  inaction  followed,  but  during 
this  time  the  most  important  events  happened  with  regard 
to  the  ultimate  result.  Ma  Julung  employed  all  his  artifice 
and  arguments  to  show  the  rebel  chiefs  the  utter  hopeless- 
ness of  their  succeeding  against  the  whole  power  of  the  Chi- 
nese empire,  which,  from  the  suppression  of  the  Taeping 
Rebellion,  would  soon  be  able  to  be  employed  against  them. 
They  felt  the  force  of  his  representations,  and  they  were  also 
oppressed  by  a  sense  of  the  slow  progress  they  had  made 
toward  the  capture  of  Yunnanfoo.  Some  months  after  Tsen 
Yuying's  arrival,  those  of  the  rebels  who  were  encamped  to 
the  north  of  the  city  hoisted  the  red  flag  and  gave  in  their 
adhesion  to  the  government.  Then  Ma  Julung  resumed  ac- 
tive operations  against  the  other  rebels,  and  obtained  several 
small  successes.  A  wound  received  during  one  of  the  skir- 
mishes put  an  end  to  his  activity,  and  the  campaign  resumed 
its  desultory  character.  But  Ma  Julung's  illness  had  other 
unfortunate  consequences ;  for  during  it  Tsen  Yuying  broke 
faith  with  those  of  the  rebel  leaders  who  had  come  over,  and 
put  them  all  to  a  cruel  death.  The  natural  consequence  of 
this  foolish  and  ferocious  act  was  that  the  Mohammedans 
again  reverted  to  their  desperate  resolve  to  stand  firmly 
by  the  side  of  Tu  "Wensiu.  The  war  again  passed  into  a 
more  active  phase.  Ma  Julung  had  recovered  from  his 
wounds.  A  new  viceroy,  and  a  man  of  some  onergy,  was 
sent  from  Pekin.  Lin  Yuchow  had  attracted  the  notice  of 
Tseng  Kwofan  among  those  of  his  native  province  who  had 
responded  to  his  appeal  to  defend  Hoonan  against  the  Tae- 


THE    REGEXf  Y.  447 

pings  sixteen  years  before;  and  shortly  before  the  death  of 
the  last  viceroy  of  Yunnan,  he  had  been  made  Governor 
of  Kweichow.  To  the  same  patron  at  Pekin  he  now  owed 
his  elevation  to  the  viceroyalty.  It  is  said  that  he  had  lost 
the  energy  which  once  characterized  him ;  but  he  brought 
with  him  several  thousand  Hoonan  braves,  whose  courage 
and  military  experience  made  them  invaluable  auxiliaries 
to  the  embarrassed  authorities  in  Yunnan.  In  the  course 
of  the  year  1870  most  of  the  towns  in  the  south  and  the 
north  of  Yunnan  were  recovered,  and  communications  were 
reopened  with  Szchuen.  As  soon  as  the  inhabitants  per- 
ceived that  the  government  had  recovered  its  strength,  they 
hastened  to  express  their  joy  at  the  change  by  repudiating 
the  white  flag  which  Tu  "Wensiu  had  compelled  them  to 
adopt.  The  imperialists  even  to  the  last  increased  the  diffi- 
culty of  their  work  of  pacification  by  exhibiting  a  relentless 
cruelty;  and  while  the  inhabitants  thought  to  secure  their 
safety  by  a  speedy  surrender,  the  Mussulmans  were  ren- 
dered more  desperate  in  their  resolve  to  resist.  The  chances 
of  a  Mohammedan  success  were  steadily  diminishing  when 
Yang  Yuko,  a  mandarin  of  some  military  capacity,  who  had 
begun  his  career  in  the  most  approved  manner  as  a  rebel, 
succeeded  in  capturing  the  whole  of  the  salt-producing  dis- 
trict which  had  been  the  main  source  of  their  strength.  In 
the  year  1872  all  the  preliminary  arrangements  were  made 
for  attacking  Talifoo  itself.  A  supply  of  rifles  had  been  re- 
ceived from  Canton  or  Shanghai,  and  a  few  pieces  of  artil- 
lery had  also  arrived.  "With  these  improved  weapons  the 
troops  of  Ma  Julung  and  Tsen  Yuying  enjoyed  a  distinct 
advantage  over  the  rebels  of  Talifoo.  The  horrors  of  war 
were  at  this  point  increased  by  those  of  pestilence,  for  the 
plague  broke  out  at  Puerh  on  the  southern  frontier,  and, 
before  it  disappeared,  devastated  the  whole  of  the  province, 
completing  the  effect  of  the  civil  war,  and  ruining  the  fev? 
districts  which  had  escaped  from  its  ravages.  The  direct; 
command  of  the  siege  operations  at  Talifoo  was  intrusted  to 
Yang  Yuko,  a  hunchback  general,  who  had  obtained  a  repu- 


448  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

tation  for  invincibility;  and  when  Tsen  Yuying  had  com- 
pleted his  own  operations  he  also  proceeded  to  the  camp  be- 
fore the  Mohammedan  capital  for  the  purpose  of  taking  part 
in  the  crowning  operation  of  the  war. 

Tu  Wensiu  and  the  garrison  of  Talifoo,  although  driven 
to  desperation,  could  not  discover  any  issue  from  their  diffi- 
culties. They  were  reduced  to  the  last  stage  of  destitution, 
and  starvation  stared  them  in  the  face.  In  this  extremity 
Tu  Wensiu,  although  there  was  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  imperialists  would  not  fulfill  their  pledges,  and  that  sur- 
render simply  meant  yielding  to  a  cruel  death,  resolved  to 
open  negotiations  with  Yang  Yuko  for  giving  up  the  town. 
The  emperor's  generals  signified  their  desire  for  the  speedy 
termination  of  the  siege,  at  the  same  time  expressing  ac- 
quiescence in  the  general  proposition  of  the  garrison  being 
admitted  to  terms.  Although  the  Futai  and  Yang  Yuko 
had  promptly  come  to  the  mutual  understanding  to  cele- 
brate the  fall  of  Talifoo  by  a  wholesale  massacre,  they  ex- 
pressed their  intention  to  spare  the  other  rebels  on  the  sur- 
render of  Tu  Wensiu  for  execution  and  on  the  payment  of 
an  indemnity.  The  terms  were  accepted,  although  the  more 
experienced  of  the  rebels  warned  their  comrades  that  they 
would  not  be  complied  with.  On  January  15,  1873,  Tu 
"Wensiu,  the  original  of  the  mythical  Sultan  Suliman,  the 
fame  of  whose  power  reached  England,  and  who  had  been 
an  object  of  the  solicitude  of  the  Indian  government,  ac- 
cepted the  decision  of  his  craven  followers  as  expressing  the 
will  of  Heaven,  and  gave  himself  up  for  execution.  He  at- 
tired himself  in  his  best  and  choicest  garments,  and  seated 
himself  in  the  yellow  palanquin  which  he  had  adopted  as 
one  of  the  few  marks  of  royal  state  that  his  opportunities 
allowed  him  to  secure.  Accompanied  by  the  men  who  had 
negotiated  the  surrender,  he  drove  through  the  streets,  re- 
ceiving for  the  last  time  the  homage  of  his  people,  and  out 
beyond  the  gates  to  Yang  Yuko's  camp.  Those  who  saw 
the  cortege  marveled  at  the  calm  indifference  of  the  fallen 
despot.     He  seemed  to  have  as  little  fear  of  his  fate  as  con- 


THE    REGENCY.  449 

sciousness  of  his  surroundings.  The  truth  soon  became  evi- 
dent. He  had  baffled  his  enemies  by  taking  slow  poison. 
Before  he  reached  the  presence  of  the  Futai,  who  had  wished 
to  gloat  over  the  possession  of  his  prisoner,  the  opium  had 
done  its  work,  and  Tu  Wensiu  was  no  more.  It  seemed  but 
an  inadequate  triumph  to  sever  the  head  from  the  dead  body, 
and  to  send  it  preserved  in  honey  as  the  proof  of  victory  to 
Pekin.  Four  days  after  Tu  Wensiu's  death,  the  imperialists 
were  in  complete  possession  of  the  town,  and  a  week  later 
they  had  taken  all  their  measures  for  the  execution  of  the 
fell  plan  upon  which  they  had  decided.  A  great  feast  was 
given  for  the  celebration  of  the  convention,  and  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  Mohammedan  commanders,  including  those 
who  had  negotiated  the  truce,  were  present.  At  a  given 
signal  they  were  attacked  and  murdered  by  soldiers  con- 
cealed in  the  gallery  for  the  purpose,  while  six  cannon  shots 
announced  to  the  soldiery  that  the  hour  had  arrived  for  them 
to  break  loose  on  the  defenseless  townspeople.  The  scenes 
that  followed  are  stated  to  have  surpassed  description.  It 
was  computed  that  30,000  men  alone  perished  after  the  fall 
of  the  old  Panthay  capital,  and  the  Futai  sent  to  Yunnanfoo 
twenty-four  large  baskets  full  of  human  ears,  as  well  as  the 
heads  of  the  seventeen  chiefs. 

With  the  capture  of  Talifoo  the  great  Mohammedan  re- 
bellion in  the  southwest,  to  which  the  Burmese  gave  the 
name  of  Panthay,  closed,  after  a  desultory  struggle  of  nearly 
eighteen  years.  The  war  was  conducted  with  exceptional 
ferocity  on  both  sides,  and  witnessed  more  than  the  usual 
amount  of  falseness  and  breach  of  faith  common  to  Oriental 
struggles.  Nobody  benefited  by  the  contest,  and  the  pros- 
perity of  Yunnan,  which  at  one  time  had  been  far  from  in- 
considerable, sank  to  the  lowest  possible  point.  A  new  class 
of  officials  came  to  the  front  during  this  period  of  disorder, 
and  fidelity  was  a  sufficient  passport  to  a  certain  rank.  Ma 
Julung,  the  Marshal  Ma  of  European  travelers,  gained  a 
still  higher  station ;  and  notwithstanding  the  jealousy  of  his 
colleagues,  acquired  practical  supremacy  in  the  province. 


450  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

The  high  priest,  Ma  Tesing,  who  may  be  considered  as  the 
prime  instigator  of  the  movement,  was  executed  or  poisoned 
in  1874  at  the  instigation  of  some  of  the  Chinese  officials. 
Yang  Yuko,  the  most  successful  of  all  the  generals,  only 
enjoyed  a  brief  tenure  of  power.  It  was  said  that  he  was 
dissatisfied  with  his  position  as  commander-in-chief,  and  as- 
pired to  a  higher  rank.  He  also  was  summoned  to  Pekin, 
but  never  got  further  than  Shanghai,  where  he  died,  or  was 
removed.  But  although  quiet  gradually  descended  upon  this 
part  of  China,  it  was  long  before  prosperity  followed  in  its 
train. 

About  six  years  after  the  first  mutterings  of  discontent 
among  the  Mohammedans  in  the  southwest,  disturbances 
occurred  in  the  northwest  provinces  of  Shensi  and  Kansuh, 
where  there  had  been  many  thousand  followers  of  Islam 
since  an  early  period  of  Chinese  history.  They  were  gen- 
erally obedient  subjects  and  sedulous  cultivators  of  the  soil ; 
but  they  were  always  liable  to  sudden  ebullitions  of  fanati- 
cism or  of  turbulence,  and  it  was  said  that  during  the  later 
years  of  his  reign  Keen  Lung  had  meditated  a  wholesale 
execution  of  the  male  population  above  the  age  of  fifteen. 
The  threat,  if  ever  made,  was  never  carried  out,  but  the 
report  suffices  to  show  the  extent  to  which  danger  was  ap- 
prehended from  the  Tungan  population.  The  true  origin  of 
the  great  outbreak  in  1862  in  Shensi  seems  to  have  been  a 
quarrel  between  the  Chinese  and  the  Mohammedan  militia  as 
to  their  share  of  the  spoil  derived  from  the  defeat  and  over- 
throw of  a  brigand  leader.  After  some  bloodshed,  two  im- 
perial commissioners  were  sent  from  Pekin  to  restore  order. 
The  principal  Mohammedan  leader  formed  a  plot  to  murder 
the  commissioners,  and  on  their  arrival  he  rushed  into  their 
presence  and  slew  one  of  them  with  his  own  hand.  His  co- 
religionists deplored  the  rash  act,  and  voluntarily  seized  and 
surrendered  him  for  the  purpose  of  undergoing  a  cruel  death. 
But  although  he  was  torn  to  pieces,  that  fact  did  not  satisfy 
the  outraged  dignity  of  the  emperor.  A  command  was  is- 
sued in  Tungche's  name  to  the  effect  that  all  those  who  per- 


THE   REGENCY.  451 

sisted  in  following  the  creed  of  Islam  should  perish  by  the 
sword.  From  Shensi  the  outbreak  spread  into  the  adjoin- 
ing province  of  Kansuh ;  and  the  local  garrisons  were  van- 
quished in  a  pitched  battle  at  Tara  Ussu,  beyond  the  regular 
frontier.  The  insurgents  did  not  succeed,  however,  in  tak- 
ing any  of  the  larger  towns  of  Shensi,  and  after  threatening 
with  capture  the  once  famous  city  of  Singan,  they  were  grad- 
ually expelled  from  that  province.  The  Mohammedan  rebel- 
lion within  the  limits  of  China  proper  would  not,  therefore, 
have  possessed  more  than  local  importance  but  for  the  fact 
that  it  encouraged  a  similar  outbreak  in  the  country  further 
west,  and  that  it  resulted  in  the  severance  of  the  Central 
Asian  provinces  from  China  for  a  period  of  many  years. 

The  uprising  of  the  Mohammedans  in  the  frontier  prov- 
inces appealed  to  the  secret  fears  as  well  as  to  the  longings 
of  the  Tungan  settlers  and  soldiers  in  all  the  towns  and  mili- 
tary stations  between  Souchow  and  Kashgar.  The  sense  of 
a  common  peril,  more  perhaps  than  the  desire  to  attain  the 
same  object,  led  to  revolts  at  Hami,  Barkul,  Urumtsi,  and 
Turf  an,  towns  which  formed  a  group  of  industrious  com- 
munities half-way  between  the  prosperous  districts  of  Kan- 
suh on  the  one  side  and  Kashgar  on  the  other.  The  Tun- 
gani  at  these  towns  revolted  under  the  leading  of  their 
priests,  and  imitated  the  example  of  their  co-religionists 
within  the  settled  borders  of  China  by  murdering  all  who 
did  not  accept  their  creed.  After  a  brief  interval,  which 
we  may  attribute  to  the  greatness  of  the  distance,  to  the 
vigilance  of  the  Chinese  garrison,  or  to  the  apathy  of  the 
population,  the  movement  spread  to  the  three  towns  imme- 
diately west  of  Turfan,  Karashar,  Kucha,  and  Aksu,  where 
it  came  into  contact  with,  and  was  stopped  by,  another  in- 
surrectionary movement  under  Mohammedan,  but  totally 
distinct,  auspices.  West  of  Aksu  the  Tungan  rebellion  never 
extended  south  of  the  Tian  Shan  range.  The  defection  of 
the  Tungani,  who  had  formed  a  large  proportion,  if  not  the 
majority,  of  the  Chinese  garrisons,  paralyzed  the  strength 
of  the  Celestials  in  Central  Asia.     Both  in  the-  districts  de- 


452  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

pendent  on  Hi,  and  in  those  ruled  from  Kashgar  and  Yar~ 
kand,  the  Chinese  were  beset  by  many  great  and  permanent 
difficulties.  They  were  with  united  strength  a  minority,  and 
now  that  they  were  divided  among  themselves  almost  a 
hopeless  minority.  The  peoples  they  governed  were  fanat- 
ical, false,  and  fickle.  The  ruler  of  Khokand  and  the  refu- 
gees living  on  his  bounty  wore  always  on  the  alert  to  take 
the  most  advantage  of  the  least  slip  or  act  of  weakness  on  the 
part  of  the  governing  classes.  Their  machinations  had  been 
hitherto  baffled,  but  never  before  had  so  favorable  an  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself  for  attaining  their  wishes  as  when  it 
became  known  that  the  whole  Mohammedan  population  was 
up  in  arms  against  the  emperor,  and  that  communications 
were  severed  between  Kashgar  and  Pekin.  The  attempts 
made  at  earlier  periods  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the 
old  ruling  family  in  Kashgar  to  regain  their  own  by  expel- 
ling the  Chinese  have  been  described.  In  1857  Wali  Khan, 
one  of  the  sons  of  Jehangir,  had  succeeded  in  gaining  tempo- 
rary possession  of  the  city  of  Kashgar,  and  seemed  for  a  mo- 
ment to  be  likely  to  capture  Yarkand  also.  He  fell  by  his 
vices.  The  people  soon  detested  the  presence  of  the  man  to 
whom  they  had  accorded  a  too  hasty  welcome.  After  a  rule 
of  four  months  he  fled  the  country,  vanquished  in  the  field 
by  the  Chinese  garrison,  and  followed  by  the  execrations 
of  the  population  he  had  come  to  deliver.  The  invasion  of 
Wali  Khan  further  imbittered  the  relations  between  the  Chi- 
nese and  their  subjects ;  and  a  succession  of  governors  bore 
heavily  on  the  Mohammedans.  Popular  dissatisfaction  and 
the  apprehension  in  the  minds  of  the  governing  officials  that 
their  lives  might  be  forfeited  at  any  moment  to  a  popular 
outbreak  added  to  the  dangers  of  the  situation  in  Kashgar 
itself,  when  the  news  arrived  of  the  Tungan  revolt,  and  of 
the  many  other  complications  which  hampered  the  action 
of  the  Pekin  ruler.  We  cannot  narrate  here  the  details  of 
the  rebellion  in  Kashgar.  Its  influence  on  the  history  of 
China  would  not  sanction  such  close  exactitude.  But  in 
the  year  1863  the  Chinese  officials  had  become  so  alarmed 


THE   REGENCY.  453 

at  their  isolated  position  that  they  resolved  to  adopt  the  des- 
perate expedient  of  massacring  all  the  Mohammedans  or 
Tungani  in  their  own  garrisons.  The  amban  and  his  officers 
were  divided  in  council  and  dilatory  in  execution.  The  Tun- 
gani heard  of  the  plot  while  the  governor  was  summoning 
the  nerve  to  carry  it  out.  They  resolved  to  anticipate  him. 
The  Mohammedans  at  Yarkand,  the  largest  and  most  im- 
portant garrison  in  the  country,  rose  in  August,  1863,  and 
massacred  all  the  Buddhist  Chinese.  Seven  thousand  men 
are  computed  to  have  fallen.  A  small  band  fled  to  the  cita- 
del, which  they  held  for  a  short  time ;  but  at  length,  over- 
whelmed by  numbers,  they  preferred  death  to  dishonor,  and 
destroyed  themselves  by  exploding  the  fort  with  the  maga- 
zine. The  defection  of  the  Tungani  thus  lost  Kashgaria  for 
the  Chinese,  as  the  other  garrisons  and  towns  promptly  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  Yarkand ;  but  they  could  not  keep  it 
for  themselves.  The  spectacle  of  this  internal  dissension 
proved  irresistible  for  the  adventurers  of  Khokand,  and 
Buzurg,  the  last  surviving  son  of  Jehangir,  resolved  to 
make  another  bid  for  power  and  for  the  recovery  of  the  posi- 
tion for  which  his  father  and  kinsmen  had  striven  in  vain. 
The  wish  might  possibly  have  been  no  more  attained  than 
theirs,  had  he  not  secured  the  support  of  the  most  capable 
soldier  in  Khokand,  Mahomed  Yakoob,  the  defender  of  Ak 
Musjid  against  the  Russians.  It  was  not  until  the  early 
part  of  the  year  1865  that  this  Khoja  pretender,  with  his 
small  body  of  Khokandian  officers  and  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  Kirghiz  allies,  appeared  upon  the  scene.  Then,  how- 
ever, their  success  was  rapid.  The  Tungan  revolt  in  Alty- 
shahr  resolved  itself  into  a  movement  for  the  restoration  of 
the  Khoja  dynasty.  In  a  short  time  Buzurg  was  established 
as  ruler,  while  his  energetic  lieutenant  was  employed  in 
the  task  of  crushing  the  few  remaining  Chinese  garrisons, 
and  also  in  cowing  his  Tungan  allies,  who  already  regarded 
their  new  ruler  with  a  doubtful  eye.  By  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember in  the  same  year  that  witnessed  the  passage  of  the 
invading  force  through  the  Terek  defile,   the    triumph   of 


454  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

the  Khoja's  arms  was  assured.  A  few  weeks  later  Maho- 
med Yakoob  deposed  his  master,  and  caused  himself  to  be 
proclaimed  ruler  in  his  stead.  The  voice  of  the  people  rati- 
fied the  success  of  the  man;  and  in  1866  Mahomed  Yakoob, 
or  Yakoob  Beg,  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Ameer  of 
Bokhara  the  proud  title  of  Athalik  Ghazi,  by  which  he  was 
long  known.  The  Mohammedan  rising  spread  still  further 
within  the  limits  of  Chinese  authority  in  Central  Asia. 

While  the  events  which  have  been  briefly  sketched  were 
happening  in  the  region  south  of  the  great  Tian  Shan  range, 
others  of  not  less  importance  had  taken  place  in  Hi  or  Knldja, 
which,  under  Chinese  rule,  had  enjoyed  uninterrupted  peace 
for  a  century.  It  was  this  fact  which  marked  the  essential 
difference  between  the  Tungan  rebellion  and  all  the  disturb- 
ances that  had  preceded  it.  The  revolution  in  the  metro- 
politan province  was  complicated  by  the  presence  of  different 
races,  just  as  it  had  been  in  Kashgaria  by  the  pretensions  of 
the  Khoja  family.  A  large  portion  of  the  population  son- 
sisted  of  those  Tarantchis  who  were  the  descendants  of  the 
Kashgarians  deported  on  more  than  one  occasion  by  the 
Chinese  from  their  own  homes  to  the  banks  of  the  Hi;  and 
they  had  inherited  a  legacy  of  ill-will  against  their  rulers 
which  only  required  the  opportunity  to  display  itself.  The 
Tungan — or  Dungan,  as  the  Russians  spell  it — element  was 
also  very  strong,  and  colonies  of  the  Sobo  and  Solon  tribes, 
who  had  been  emancipated  from  their  subjection  to  the 
Mongols  by  the  Emperor  Kanghi  for  their  bravery,  further 
added  to  the  variety  of  the  nationalities  dwelling  in  this 
province.  It  had  been  said  with  some  truth  that  the  Chinese 
ruled  in  this  quarter  of  their  dominions  on  the  old  principle 
of  commanding  by  the  division  of  the  subjected;  and  it  had 
been  predicted  that  they  would  fall  whenever  any  two  of  the 
dependent  populations  combined  against  them.  There  is 
little  difficulty  in  showing  that  the  misfortunes  of  the  Chi- 
nese were  due  to  their  own  faults.  They  neglected  the 
plainest  military  precautions,  and  the  mandarins  thought 
only  of  enriching  themselves.     But  the  principal  cause  of  the 


THE   REGENCY.  455 

destruction  of  their  power  was  the  cessation  of  the  supplies 
which  they  used  to  receive  from  Pekin.  The  government 
of  these  dependencies  was  only  possible  by  an  annual  gift 
from  the  imperial  treasury.  When  the  funds  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Hi  authorities  were  diverted  to  other  uses,  it 
was  no  longer  possible  to  maintain  the  old  efficiency  of  the 
service.  Discontent  was  provided  with  a  stronger  argument 
at  the  same  time  that  the  executive  found  itself  embarrassed 
in  grappling  with  it. 

The  news  of  the  Mohammedan  outbreak  in  China  warned 
the  Tungani  in  Hi  that  their  opportunity  had  come.  But 
although  there  were  disturbances  as  early  as  January,  1863, 
these  were  suppressed,  and  the  vigilance  of  the  authorities 
sufficed  to  keep  things  quiet  for  another  year.  Their  sub- 
sequent incapacity,  or  hesitation  to  strike  a  prompt  blow, 
enabled  the  Mohammedans  to  husband  their  resources  and 
to  complete  their  plans.  A  temporary  alliance  was  con- 
cluded between  the  Tungani  and  the  Tarantchis,  and  they 
hastened  to  attack  the  Chinese  troops  and  officials.  The 
year  1865  was  marked  by  the  progress  of  a  sanguinary 
struggle,  during  which  the  Chinese  lost  their  principal  towns, 
and  some  of  their  garrisons  were  ruthlessly  slaughtered  after 
surrender.  The  usual  scenes  of  civil  war  followed.  "When 
the  Chinese  were  completely  vanquished  and  their  garrisons 
exterminated,  the  victors  quarreled  among  themselves.  The 
Tungani  and  the  Tarantchis  met  in  mortal  encounter,  and 
the  former  were  vanquished  and  their  chief  slain.  When 
they  renewed  the  contest,  some  months  later,  they  were, 
after  another  sanguinary  struggle,  again  overthrown.  The 
Tarantchis  then  ruled  the  state  by  themselves,  but  the  ex- 
ample they  set  of  native  rule  was,  to  say  the  least,  not 
encouraging.  One  chief  after  another  was  deposed  and 
murdered.  The  same  year  witnessed  no  fewer  than  five 
leaders  in  the  supreme  place  of  power;  and  when  Abul 
Oghlan  assumed  the  title  of  Sultan  the  cup  of  their  iniquities 
was  already  full.  In  the  year  1871  an  end  was  at  last  put 
to  these  enormities  by  the  occupation  of  the  province  by  a 


456  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

Russian  force,  and  the  installation  of  a  Russian  governor. 
Although  it  is  probable  that  they  were  only  induced  to  take 
this  step  by  the  fear  that  if  they  did  not  do  so  Yakoob  Beg 
would,  the  fact  remains  that  the  Russian  government  did  a 
good  thing  in  the  cause  of  order  by  interfering  for  the  res- 
toration of  tranquillity  in  the  valley  of  the  Hi. 

The  Mohammedan  outbreaks  in  southwestern  and  north- 
western China  resulted,  therefore,  in  the  gradual  suppression 
of  the  Panthay  rebellion,  which  was  completed  in  the  twelfth 
year  of  Tungche's  reign,  while  the  Tungan  rising,  so  far 
as  the  Central  Asian  territories  were  concerned,  remained 
unquelled  for  a  longer  period.  The  latter  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  independent  Tungan  confederacy  beyond 
Kansuh,  and  also  of  the  kingdom  of  Kashgaria  ruled  by 
Yakoob  Beg.  The  revolt  in  Hi,  after  several  alternations 
of  fortune,  resulted  in  the  brief  independence  of  the  Taran- 
tchis,  who  were  in  turn  displaced  by  the  Russians  under  a 
pledge  of  restoring  the  province  to  the  Chinese  whenever 
they  should  return.  Judged  by  the  extent  of  territory  in- 
volved, the  Mohammedan  rebellion  might  be  said  to  be  not 
less  important  than  the  Taeping ;  but  the  comparison  on  that 
ground  alone  would  be  really  delusive,  as  the  numerical 
inferiority  of  the  Mohammedans  rendered  it  always  a  ques- 
tion only  of  time  for  the  central  power  to  be  restored. 

The  young  Emperor  Tungche,  therefore,  grew  up  amid 
continual  difficulties,  although  the  successes  of  his  principal 
lieutenants  afforded  good  reason  to  believe  that,  so  far  as 
they  arose  from  rebels,  it  was  only  a  question  of  time  before 
they  would  be  finally  removed.  The  foreign  intercourse  still 
gave  cause  for  much  anxiety,  although  there  was  no  appre- 
hension of  war.  It  would  have  been  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  relations  between  the  foreign  merchants  and  resi- 
dents and  the  Chinese  could  become,  after  the  suspicion  and 
dangers  of  generations,  absolutely  cordial.  The  commercial 
and  missionary  bodies,  into  which  the  foreign  community 
was  naturally  divided,  had  objects  of  trade  or  religion  to 
advance,  which  rendered  them  apt  to  take  an  unfavorable 


THE   REGENCY.  457 

view  of  the  progress  made  by  the  Chinese  government  in  the 
paths  of  civilization,  and  to  be  ever  skeptical  even  of  its  good 
faith.  The  main  object  with  the  foreign  diplomatic  repre- 
sentatives became  not  more  to  obtain  justice  for  their  coun- 
trymen than  to  restrain  their  eagerness,  and  to  confine  their 
pretensions  to  the  rights  conceded  by  the  treaties.  A  clear 
distinction  had  to  be  drawn  between  undue  coercion  of  the 
Chinese  government  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  effectual  com- 
pulsion of  the  people  to  evince  respect  toward  foreigners  and 
to  comply  with  the  obligations  of  the  treaty  on  the  other. 
Instances  repeatedly  occurred  in  reference  to  the  latter  mat- 
ter, when  it  would  have  been  foolish  to  have  shown  weak- 
ness, especially  as  there  was  not  the  least  room  to  suppose 
that  the  government  possessed  at  that  time  the  power  and 
the  capacity  to  secure  reparation  for,  or  to  prevent  the  repe- 
tition of,  attacks  on  foreigners.  Under  this  category  came 
the  riot  at  Yangchow  in  the  year  1868,  when  some  mission- 
aries had  their  houses  burned  down,  and  were  otherwise 
maltreated.  A  similar  outrage  was  perpetrated  in  Formosa; 
but  the  fullest  redress  was  always  tendered  as  soon  as  the 
executive  realized  that  the  European  representatives  attached 
importance  to  the  occurrence.  The  recurrence  of  these  local 
dangers  and  disputes  served  to  bring  more  clearly  than  ever 
before  the  minds  of  the  Chinese  ministers  the  advisability  of 
taking  some  step  on  their  own  part  toward  an  understanding 
with  European  governments  and  peoples.  The  proposal  to 
depute  a  Chinese  embassador  to  the  West  could  hardly  be 
said  to  be  new,  seeing  that  it  had  been  projected  after  the 
Treaty  of  Nankin,  and  that  the  minister  Keying  had  mani- 
fested some  desire  to  be  the  first  mandarin  to  serve  in  that 
novel  capacity.  But  when  the  Tsungli  Yamen  took  up  the 
question  it  was  decided  that  in  this  as  in  other  matters  it 
would  be  expedient  to  avail  themselves  in  the  first  place 
of  foreign  mediation.  The  favorable  opportunity  of  doing 
so  presented  itself  when  Mr.  Burlinghame  retired  from  his 
post  as  minister  of  the  United  States  at  Pekin.  In  the  win- 
ter of  1867-68   Mr.  Burlinghame  accepted  an  appointment 

20 


458  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

as  accredited  representative  of  the  Chinese  government  to 
eleven  of  the  principal  countries  of  the  world,  and  two  Chi- 
nese mandarins  and  a  certain  number  of  Chinese  students 
were  appointed  to  accompany  him  on  his  tour.  The  Chinese 
themselves  did  not  attach  as  much  importance  as  they  might 
have  done  to  his  efforts,  and  Mr.  Burlinghame's  mission  will 
be  remembered  more  as  an  educational  process  for  foreigners 
than  as  signifying  any  decided  change  in  Chinese  policy. 
His  death  at  St.  Petersburg,  in  March,  1870,  put  a  sudden 
and  unexpected  close  to  his  tour,  but  it  cannot  be  said  that 
he  could  have  done  more  toward  the  elucidation  of  Chinese 
questions  than  he  had  already  accomplished,  while  his  bold 
and  optimistic  statements,  after  awakening  public  attention, 
had  already  begun  to  produce  the  inevitable  reaction. 

In  1869  Sir  Rutherford  Alcock  retired,  and  was  succeeded 
in  the  difficult  post  of  English  representative  in  China  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Wade,  whose  services  have  been  more  than  once 
referred  to.  In  the  very  first  year  of  his  holding  the  post  an 
event  occurred  which  cast  all  the  minor  aggressive  acts  that 
had  preceded  it  into  the  shade.  It  may  perhaps  be  surmised 
that  this  was  the  Tientsin  massacre — an  event  which  threat- 
ened to  re-open  the  whole  of  the  China  question,  and  which 
brought  France  and  China  to  the  verge  of  war.  It  was  in 
June,  1870,  on  the  eve  of  the  outbreak  of  the  Franco-Prus- 
sian War,  that  the  foreign  settlements  were  startled  by  the 
report  of  a  great  popular  outbreak  against  foreigners  in  the 
important  town  of  Tientsin.  At  that  city  there  was  a  large 
and  energetic  colony  of  Roman  Catholic  priests,  and  their 
success  in  the  task  of  conversion,  small  as  it  might  be  held, 
was  still  sufficient  to  excite  the  ire  and  fears  of  the  literary 
and  official  classes.  The  origin  of  mob  violence  is  ever  diffi- 
cult to  discover,  for  a  trifle  suffices  to  set  it  in  motion.  But 
at  Tientsin  specific  charges  of  the  most  horrible  and,  it  need 
not  be  said,  the  most  baseless  character  were  spread  about  as 
to  the  cruelties  and  evil  practices  of  those  devoted  to  the  ser- 
vice of  religion.  These  rumors  were  diligently  circulated, 
and  it  need  not  cause  wonder  if,  when  the  mere  cry  of  "Fan- 


THE   REGENCY  459 

quai" — Foreign  Devil — sufficed  to  raise  a  disturbance,  these 
allegations  resulted  in  a  vigorous  agitation  against  the  mis- 
sionaries, who  were  already  the  mark  of  popular  execration. 
It  was  well  known  beforehand  that  an  attack  on  the  mission- 
aries would  take  place  unless  the  authorities  adopted  very 
efficient  measures  of  protection.  The  foreign  residents  and 
the  consulates  were  warned  of  the  coming  outburst,  and  a 
very  heavy  responsibility  will  always  rest  on  those  who 
might,  by  the  display  of  greater  vigor,  have  prevented  the 
unfortunate  occurrences  that  ensued.  At  the  same  time, 
allowing  for  the  prejudices  of  the  Chinese,  it  must  be  allowed 
that  not  only  must  the  efforts  of  all  foreign  missionaries  be 
attended  with  the  gravest  peril,  but  that  the  acts  of  the 
French  priests  and  nuns  at  Tientsin  were,  if  not  indiscreet,  at 
least  peculiarly  calculated  to  arouse  the  anger  and  offend  the 
superstitious  predilections  of  the  Chinese.  That  the  wrong 
was  not  altogether  on  the  side  of  the  Chinese  may  be  gath- 
ered from  an  official  dispatch  of  the  United  States  Minister, 
describing  the  originating  causes  of  the  outrage:  "At  many 
of  the  principal  places  in  China  open  to  foreign  residence,  the 
Sisters  of  Charily  have  established  institutions,  each  of  which 
appears  to  combine  in  itself  a  foundling  hospital  and  orphan 
asylum.  Finding  that  the  Chinese  were  averse  to  placing 
children  in  their  charge,  the  managers  of  these  institutions 
offered  a  certain  sum  per  head  for  all  the  children  placed 
under  their  control,  to  be  given  to  them;  it  being  understood 
that  a  child  once  in  their  asylum  no  parent,  relative,  or 
guardian  could  claim  or  exercise  any  control  over  it.  It  has 
ror  some  time  been  asserted  by  the  Chinese,  and  believed  by 
most  of  the  non-Catholic  foreigners  residing  here,  that  the 
system  of  paying  bounties  induced  the  kidnaping  of  children 
for  these  institutions  for  the  sake  of  the  reward.  It  is  also 
asserted  that  the  priests  or  sisters,  or  both,  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  holding  out  inducements  to  have  children  brought 
to  them  in  the  last  stages  of  illness  for  the  purpose  of  being 
baptized  in  articulo  mortis.  In  this  way  many  children 
have  been  taken  to  these  establishments  in  the  last  stages 


460  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

of  disease,  baptized  there,  and  soon  after  taken  away  dead. 
All  these  acts,  together  with  the  secrecy  and  seclusion  which 
appear  to  be  a  part  and  parcel  of  the  regulations  which  gov- 
ern institutions  of  this  character  everywhere,  have  created 
suspicions  in  the  minds  of  the  Chinese,  and  these  suspicions 
have  engendered  an  intense  hatred  against  the  sisters." 

At  that  time  Chung  How,  the  superintendent  of  trade 
for  the  three  northern  ports,  was  the  principal  official  in 
Tientsin;  but  although  some  representations,  not  as  forcible 
however  as  the  occasion  demanded,  were  made  to  him  by  M. 
Fontanier,  the  French  Consul,  on  June  18,  three  days  before 
the  massacre,  no  reply  was  given  and  no  precautions  were 
taken.  On  the  21st  a  large  crowd  assembled  outside  the 
mission  house.  They  very  soon  assumed  an  attitude  of 
hostility,  and  it  was  clear  that  at  any  moment  the  attack 
might  begin.  M.  Fontanier  hastened  off  in  person  to  Chung 
How,  but  his  threats  seem  to  have  been  as  unavailing  as  his 
arguments.  On  his  return  he  found  the  attack  on  the  point 
of  commencing.  He  made  use  of  menaces,  and  he  fired  a 
shot  from  his  revolver,  whether  in  self-defense  or  in  the  heat 
of  indignation  at  some  official  treachery  will  never  be  known. 
The  mob  turned  upon  him,  and  he  was  murdered.  The  Chi- 
nese then  hastened  to  complete  the  work  they  had  begun. 
Chung  How,  like  Surajah  Dowlah,  was  not  to  be  disturbed, 
and  the  attack  on  the  mission  house  and  consulate  proceeded, 
while  the  officials  responsible  for  order  remained  inactive. 
Twenty-one  foreigners  in  all  were  brutally  murdered  under 
circumstances  of  the  greatest  barbarity,  while  the  number 
of  native  converts  who  fell  at  the  same  time  can  never  be 
ascertained. 

The  Tientsin  massacre  was  followed  by  a  wave  of  anti- 
toreign  feeling  over  the  whole  country;  but  although  an 
official  brought  out  a  work — entitled  "Death-blow  to  Corrupt 
Doctrine" — which  obtained  more  than  a  passing  notoriety, 
and  notwithstanding  that  some  members  of  the  imperial 
family,  and  notably,  as  it  was  stated,  Prince  Chun,  regarded 
the  movement  with  favor,  the  arguments  of  Prince  Kung 


THE   REGENCY.  461 

£nd  the  more  moderate  ministers  carried  the  day,  and  it  was 
resolved  to  make  every  concession  in  the  power  of  the  gov- 
ernment for  the  pacific  settlement  of  the  dispute  that  had 
arisen  with  France.  The  outbreak  of  the  war  between 
France  and  Germany,  while  it  contributed  to  a  peaceful 
settlement  of  the  question,  rendered  the  process  of  diplomacy 
slow  and  dubious.  The  Tsungli  Yamen,  as  soon  as  it  real- 
ized that  nothing  short  of  the  dispatch  of  a  mission  of  apology 
to  Europe  would  salve  the  injured  honor  of  France,  deter- 
mined that  none  other  than  Chung  How  himself  should  go  to 
Paris  to  assure  the  French  that  the  government  deplored  the 
popular  ebullition  and  had  taken  no  part  in  it.  The  untoward 
result  of  the  great  war  for  France  embarrassed  her  action  in 
China.  Chung  How's  assurances  were  accepted,  the  prof- 
fered compensation  was  received ;  but  the  Chinese  were  in- 
formed that  in  recognition  of  France's  moderation,  and  in 
return  for  the  reception  of  their  envoy  by  M.  Thiers,  the 
right  of  audience  should  be  conceded  to  the  French  minister 
resident  at  Pekin.  The  Audience  Question  naturally  aroused 
the  greatest  interest  at  Pekin,  where  it  agitated  the  official 
mind  not  merely  because  it  signified  another  concession  to 
force,  but  also  because  it  promised  to  produce  a  disturbing 
effect  on  the  mind  of  the  people.  The  young  emperor  was 
growing  up,  and  might  be  expected  to  take  a  direct  share  in 
the  administration  at  an  early  date.  It  was  not  an  idle 
apprehension  that  filled  the  minds  of  his  ministers  lest  he 
might  lay  the  blame  on  them  for  having  cast  upon  him  the 
obligation  of  receiving  ministers  of  foreign  States  in  a  man- 
ner such  as  they  had  never  before  been  allowed  to  appear  in 
the  presence  of  the  occupant  of  the  Dragon  Throne.  The 
youth  of  the  sovereign  served  to  postpone  the  question  for  a 
short  space  of  time,  but  it  was  no  longer  doubtful  that  the 
assumption  of  personal  authority  by  the  young  Emperor 
Tungche  would  be  accompanied  by  the  reintroduction,  and 
probably  by  the  settlement,  of  the  Audience  Question.  It 
was  typical  of  the  progress  Chinese  statesmen  were  making 
that  none  of  them  seemed  to  consider  the  possibility  of  dis- 


462  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

tinctly  refusing  this  privilege.  Its  concession  was  only  post 
poned  until  after  the  celebration  of  the  young  emperor's 
marriage. 

It  had  been  known  for  some  time  that  the  young  ruler 
had  fixed  his  affections  on  Ahluta,  a  Manchu  lady  of  good 
family,  daughter  of  Duke  Chung,  and  that  the  empresses 
had  decided  that  she  was  worthy  of  the  high  rank  to  which 
she  was  to  be  raised.  The  marriage  ceremony  was  deferred 
on  more  than  one  plea  until  after  the  emperor  had  reached  his 
sixteenth  birthday,  but  in  October,  1872,  there  was  thought 
to  be  no  longer  any  excuse  for  postponement,  and  it  was 
celebrated  with  great  splendor  on  the  16th  of  that  month. 
The  arrangements  were  made  in  strict  accordance  with  the 
precedent  of  the  Emperor  Kanghi's  marriage  in  1674,  that 
ruler  having  also  married  when  in  occupation  of  the  throne, 
and  before  he  had  attained  his  majority.  It  was  stated  that 
the  ceremonial  was  imposing,  that  the  incidental  expenses 
were  enormous,  and  that  the  people  were  very  favorably 
impressed  by  the  demeanor  of  their  young  sovereign.  Four 
months  after  the  celebration  of  his  marriage  the  formal  act 
of  conferring  upon  Tungche  the  personal  control  of  his 
dominions  was  performed.  In  a  special  decree  issued  from 
the  Board  of  Rites  the  emperor  said  that  he  had  received 
"the  commands  of  their  majesties  the  two  empresses  to  as- 
sume the  superintendence  of  business."  This  edict  was 
directed  to  the  Foreign  Ministers,  who  in  return  presented 
a  collective  request  to  be  received  in  audience.  Prince  Kung 
was  requested  "to  take  his  Imperial  Majesty's  orders  with 
reference  to  their  reception."  The  question  being  thus 
brought  to  a  crucial  point,  it  was  not  unnatural  that  the 
Chinese  ministers  should  make  the  most  vigorous  resistance 
they  could  to  those  details  which  seemed  to  and  did  encroach 
upon  the  prerogative  of  the  emperor  as  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  exercise  it.  For,  in  the  first  place,  they  were  no 
longer  free  agents,  and  Tungche  had  himself  to  be  consid 
ered  in  any  arrangement  for  the  reception  of  foreign  envoys. 
The  discussion  of  the  question  assumed  a  controversial  char 


THE  REGENCY.  463 

acter,  in  which  stress  was  laid  on  the  one  side  upon  the 
necessity  of  the  kotow  even  in  a  modified  form,  while  on  the 
other  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  least  concession  was  as 
objectionable  as  the  greatest,  and  that  China  would  benefit 
by  the  complete  settlement  of  the  question.  It  says  a  great 
deal  for  the  fairness  and  moderation  of  Prince  Kung  and  the 
ministers  with  him  that,  although  they  knew  that  the  for- 
eign governments  were  not  prepared  to  make  the  Audience 
Question  one  of  war,  or  even  of  the  suspension  of  diplomatic 
relations,  they  determined  to  settle  the  matter  in  the  way 
most  distasteful  to  themselves  and  most  agreeable  to  foreign- 
ers. On  June  29,  1873,  Tungche  received  in  audience  the 
ministers  of  the  principal  powers  at  Pekin,  and  thus  gave 
completeness  to  the  many  rights  and  concessions  obtained 
from  his  father  aod  grandfather  by  the  treaties  of  Tientsin 
and  Nankin.  The  privilege  thus  secured  caused  lively  grati- 
fication in  the  minds  of  all  foreign  residents,  to  whom  it  sig- 
nified the  great  surrender  of  the  inherent  right  to  superiority 
claimed  by  the  Chinese  emperors,  and  we  have  recently  seen 
that  it  has  been  accepted  as  a  precedent. 

The  sudden  death  of  Tseng  Kwofan  in  the  summer  of 
1872  removed  unquestionably  the  foremost  public  man  in 
China.  After  the  fall  of  Nankin  he  had  occupied  the  high- 
est posts  in  the  empire,  both  at  that  city  and  in  the  metrop- 
olis. He  was  not  merely  powerful  from  his  own  position, 
but  from  his  having  placed  his  friends  and  dependents  in 
many  of  the  principal  offices  throughout  the  empire.  At 
first  prejudiced  against  foreigners,  he  had  gradually  brought 
himself  to  recognize  that  some  advantage  might  be  derived 
from  their  knowledge.  But  the  change  came  at  too  late  a 
period  to  admit  of  his  conferring  any  distinct  benefit  on  his 
country  from  the  more  liberal  policy  he  felt  disposed  to  pur- 
sue with  regard  to  the  training  of  Chinese  youths  in  the 
science  and  learning  of  the  West.  It  was  said  that  had  he 
been  personally  ambitious  he  might  have  succeeded  in  dis- 
placing the  Tartar  regime.  But  such  a  thought  never  as- 
sumed any  practical  shape  in  his  mind,  and  to  the  end  of  his 


464  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

days  Tseng  Kwofan  was  satisfied  to  remain  the  steadfast 
supporter  and  adherent  of  the  Manchus.  In  this  respect  he 
has  been  closely  imitated  by  his  most  distinguished  lieu- 
tenant, Li  Hung  Chang,  who  succeeded  to  some  of  his 
dignities  and  much  of  his  power. 

Another  of  Tseng's  proteges,  Tso  Tsung  Tang,  had  been 
raised  from  the  viceroyalty  of  Chekiang  and  Fuhkien  to 
that  of  Shensi  and  Kansuh.  The  promotion  was  of  the  more 
doubtful  value,  seeing  that  both  those  provinces  were  in  the 
actual  possession  of  the  rebels ;  but  Tso  threw  himself  into 
the  task  of  reconquering  them  with  remarkable  energy,  and 
within  two  years  of  his  arrival  he  was  able  to  report  that 
he  had  cleared  the  province  of  Shensi  of  all  insurgents.  He 
then  devoted  his  attention  to  the  pacification  of  Kansuh;  and 
after  many  desultory  engagements  proceeded  to  lay  siege  to 
the  town  of  Souchow,  where  the  Mohammedans  had  massed 
their  strength.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1872  the  imperial 
army  was  drawn  up  in  front  of  this  place,  but  Tso  does  not 
seem  to  have  considered  himself  strong  enough  to  deliver  an 
attack,  and  confined  his  operations  to  preventing  the  intro- 
duction of  supplies  and  fresh  troops  into  the  town.  Even  in 
this  he  was  only  partially  successful,  as  a  considerable  body 
of  men  made  their  way  in,  in  January,  1873.  In  the  fol- 
lowing month  he  succeeded  in  capturing,  by  a  night  attack, 
a  temple  outside  the  walls,  upon  which  the  Mohammedans 
placed  considerable  value.  The  siege  continued  during  the 
whole  of  the  summer,  and  it  was  not  until  the  month  of 
October  that  the  garrison  was  reduced  to  such  extremities  as 
to  surrender.  The  chiefs  were  hacked  to  pieces,  and  about 
four  thousand  men  perished  by  the  sword.  The  women, 
children,  and  old  men  were  spared,  and  the  spoil  of  the 
place  was  handed  over  to  the  soldiery.  It  was  Tso's  dis- 
tinctive merit  that,  far  from  being  carried  away  by  these 
successes,  he  neglected  no  military  precaution,  and  devoted 
his  main  efforts  to  the  reorganization  of  the  province.  In 
that  operation  he  may  be  left  employed  for  the  brief  re- 
mainder of  Tungche's  reign;    but  it  may  be  said  that  in 


THE   REGENCY.  465 

1874  the  campaign  against  Kashgaria  had  been  fully  decided 
upon.  A  thousand  Manchu  cavalry  were  sent  to  Souchow. 
Sheepskins,  horses,  and  ammunition  in  large  quantities  were 
also  dispatched  to  the  far  west,  and  General  Kinshun,  the 
Manchu  general,  was  intrusted  with  the  command  of  the 
army  in  the  field. 

The  year  1874  witnessed  an  event  that  claims  notice. 
There  never  has  been  much  good  will  between  China  and 
her  neighbors  in  Japan.  The  latter  are  too  independent  in 
their  bearing  to  please  the  advocates  of  Chinese  predomi- 
nance, at  the  same  time  that  their  insular  position  has  left 
them  safe  from  the  attack  of  the  Pekin  government.  The 
attempt  made  by  the  Mongol,  Kublai  Khan,  to  subdue  these 
islanders  had  been  too  disastrous  to  invite  repetition.  In 
Corea  the  pretensions  of  the  ruler  of  Yeddo  had  been  re- 
pelled, if  not  crushed ;  but  wherever  the  sea  intervened  the 
advantage  rested  more  or  less  decisively  with  him.  The 
island  of  Formosa  is  dependent  upon  China,  and  the  west- 
ern districts  are  governed  by  officials  duly  appointed  by  the 
Viceroy  of  Fuhkien.  But  the  eastern  half  of  the  island,  sep- 
arated from  the  cultivated  districts  by  a  range  of  mountains 
covered  with  dense  if  not  impenetrable  forests,  is  held  by 
tribes  who  own  no  one's  authority,  and  who  act  as  they 
deem  fit.  In  the  year  1868  or  1869  a  junk  from  Loochoo 
was  wrecked  on  this  coast,  and  the  crew  were  murdered  by 
the  islanders.  The  civil  war  in  Japan  prevented  any  prompt 
olaim  for  reparation,  but  in  1873  the  affair  was  revived,  and 
a  demand  made  at  Pekin  for  compensation.  The  demand 
was  refused,  whereupon  the  Japanese,  taking  the  law  into 
their  own  hands,  sent  an  expedition  to  Formosa.  China 
replied  with  a  counter-demonstration,  and  war  seemed  in- 
evitable. In  this  crisis  Mr.  Wade  offered  his  good  services  in 
the  interests  of  peace,  and  after  considerable  controversy  he 
succeeded  in  bringing  the  two  governments  to  reason.  The 
Chinese  paid  an  indemnity  of  half  a  million  taels,  and  the 
Japanese  evacuated  the  island. 

In  all  countries  governed  by  an  absolute  sovereign  it  is 


466  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

as  interesting  as  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  some  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  character  of  the  autocrat.  A  most  important 
change  had  been  effected  in  the  government  of  China,  yet 
it  is  impossible  to  discover  what  its  precise  significance  was, 
or  to  say  how  far  it  influenced  the  fortunes  of  the  country. 
The  empresses  had  retired  into  private  life,  and  for  a  time 
their  regency  came  to  an  end.  Prince  Kung  was  only  the 
minister  of  a  young  prince  who  had  it  in  his  power  to  guide 
affairs  exactly  as  he  might  feel  personally  disposed.  Prince 
Kung  might  be  either  the  real  governor  of  the  state  or  only 
the  courtier  of  his  nephew.  It  depended  solely  on  that 
prince's  character.  There  were  not  wanting  signs  that 
Tungche  had  the  consciousness,  if  not  the  capacity,  of  su- 
preme power,  and  that  he  wished  his  will  to  be  paramount. 
Such  evidence  as  was  obtainable  agreed  in  stating  that  he 
was  impatient  of  restraint,  and  that  the  prudent  reflections 
of  his  uncle  were  not  overmuch  to  his  fancy.  On  Septem- 
ber 10  the  young  ruler  took  the  world  into  his  confidence 
by  announcing  in  a  Vermilion  Edict  that  he  had  degraded 
Prince  Kung  and  his  son  in  their  hereditary  rank  as  princes 
of  the  empire,  for  using  "lacguage  in  very  many  respects 
unbecoming."  Whether  Tungche  took  this  very  decided 
step  in  a  moment  of  pique  or  because  he  perceived  that 
there  was  a  plan  among  his  chief  relatives  to  keep  him  in 
leading-strings,  must  remain  a  matter  of  opinion.  At  the 
least  he  must  have  refused  to  personally  retract  what  he 
had  done,  for  on  the  very  following  day  (September  11)  a 
decree  appeared  from  the  two  empresses  reinstating  Prince 
Kung  and  his  son  in  their  hereditary  rank  and  dignity, 
and  thus  reasserting  the  power  of  the  ex-regents. 

Not  long  after  this  disturbance  in  the  interior  of  the  pal- 
ace, of  which  only  the  ripple  reached  the  surface  of  pub- 
licity, there  were  rumors  that  the  emperor's  health  was  in  a 
precarious  state,  and  in  the  month  of  December  it  became 
known  that  Tungche  was  seriously  ill  with  an  attack  of 
smallpox.  The  disease  seemed  to  be  making  satisfactory 
progress,  for  the  doctors  were  rewarded ;  but  on  December 


THE    REGENCY.  4»i7 

18  an  edict  appeared  ordering  or  requesting  the  empresses 
dowager  to  assume  the  persona]  charge  of  the  administra- 
tion. Six  days  later  another  edict  appeared  which  strength- 
ened the  impression  that  the  emperor  was  making  good 
progress  toward  recovery.  But  appearances  were  decep- 
tive, for,  after  several  weeks'  uncertainty,  it  became  known 
that  the  emperor's  death  was  inevitable.  On  January  12, 
1875,  Tungche  "ascended  upon  the  Dragon,  to  be  a  guest 
on  high,"  without  leaving  any  offspring  to  succeed  him. 
There  were  rumors  that  his  illness  was  only  a  plausible 
excuse,  and  that  he  was  really  the  victim  of  foul  play ;  but 
it  is  not  likely  that  the  truth  on  that  point  will  ever  be  re- 
vealed. Whether  he  was  the  victim  of  an  intrigue  similar 
to  that  which  had  marked  his  accession  to  power,  or  whether 
he  only  died  from  the  neglect  or  incompetence  of  his  medical 
attendants,  the  consequences  were  equally  favorable  to  the 
personal  views  of  the  two  empresses  and  Prince  Kung. 
They  resumed  the  exercise  of  that  supreme  authority  which 
they  had  resigned  little  more  than  twelve  months.  The 
most  suspicious  circumstance  in  connection  with  this  event 
was  the  treatment  of  the  young  Empress  Ahluta,  who,  it 
was  well  known,  was  pregnant  at  the  time  of  her  husband's 
death.  Instead  of  waiting  to  decide  as  to  the  succession 
until  it  was  known  whether  Tungche's  posthumous  child 
would  prove  to  be  a  son  or  a  daughter,  the  empresses 
dowager  hastened  to  make  another  selection  and  to  place 
the  young  widow  of  the  deceased  sovereign  in  a  state  of 
honorable  confinement.  Their  motive  was  plain.  Had 
Ahluta's  child  happened  to  be  a  son,  he  would  have  been 
the  legal  emperor,  as  well  as  the  heir  by  direct  descent,  and 
she  herself  could  not  have  been  excluded  from  a  prominent 
share  in  the  government.  To  the  empresses  dowager  one 
child  on  the  throne  mattered  no  more  than  another ;  but  it 
was  a  question  of  the  first  importance  that  Ahluta  should  be 
set  on  one  side.  In  such  an  atmosphere  there  is  often  griev- 
ous peril  to  the  lives  of  inconvenient  personages.  Ahluta 
sickened  and  died.     Her  child  was  never  born.     The  chari- 


468  .4    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

table  gave  her  credit  for  having  refused  food  through  grief 
for  her  husband,  Tungche.  The  skeptical  listened  to  the 
details  of  her  illness  with  scorn  for  the  vain  efforts  to  ob- 
scure the  dark  deeds  of  ambition.  In  their  extreme  anxiety 
to  realize  their  own  designs,  and  at  the  same  time  not  to 
injure  the  constitution,  the  two  empresses  had  been  obliged 
to  resort  to  a  plan  that  could  only  have  been  suggested  by 
desperation.  For  the  first  time  since  the  Manchu  dynasty 
occupied  the  throne  it  was  necessary  to  depart  from  the  due 
line  of  succession,  and  to  make  the  election  of  the  sovereign 
a  matter  of  individual  fancy  or  favor  instead  of  one  of  in- 
heritance. The  range  of  choice  was  limited ;  for  the  son  of 
Prince  Kung  himself,  who  seemed  to  enjoy  the  prior  right 
to  the  throne,  was  a  young  man  of  sufficient  age  to  govern 
for  himself;  and  moreover  his  promotion  would  mean  the 
.  compulsory  retirement  from  public  life  of  Prince  Kung,  for 
it  was  not  possible  in  China  for  a  father  to  serve  under  his 
son,  until  Prince  Chun,  the  father  of  the  present  reigning 
emperor,  established  quite  recently  a  precedent  to  the  con- 
trary. The  name  of  Prince  Kung's  son,  if  mentioned  at  all, 
was  only  mentioned  to  be  dismissed.  The  choice  of  the  em- 
presses fell  upon  Tsai  Tien,  the  son  of  Prince  Chun  or  the 
Seventh  Prince,  who  on  January  13  was  proclaimed  em- 
peror. As  he  was  of  too  tender  an  age  to  rule  for  himself, 
his  nomination  served  the  purposes  of  the  two  empresses  and 
their  ally,  Prince  Kung,  who  thus  entered  upon  a  second 
lease  of  undisputed  power. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE    REIGN    OF    KWANGSU 

Thus  after  a  very  brief  interval  the  governing  power 
again  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  regents  who  had  ruled 
the  state  so  well  for  the  twelve  years  following  the  death  of 
Hienfung.     The  nominal  emperor  was  a  child  of  little  more 


THE   REIGN  OF  KWANOSU.  4  09 

than  three  years  of  age,  to  whom  was  given  the  style  of 
"Kwangsu,"  or  "illustrious  succession,"  and  the  empresses 
could  look  forward  to  many  years  of  authority  in  the  name 
of  so  young  a  sovereign.  The  only  opposition  to  their  return 
to  power  seems  to  have  come  from  the  palace  eunuchs,  who 
had  asserted  themselves  during  the  brief  reign  of  Tungche 
and  hoped  to  gain  predominance  in  the  imperial  councils. 
But  they  found  a  determined  mistress  in  the  person  of  Tsi 
An,  the  Eastern  Empress,  as  she  was  also  called,  who  took 
vigorous  action  against  them,  punishing  their  leaders  with 
death  and  effectually  nipping  in  the  bud  all  their  projects 
for  making  themselves  supreme. 

The  return  of  the  empresses  to  power  was  followed  by 
a  great  catastrophe  in  the  relations  between  England  and 
China.  For  the  moment  it  threw  every  other  matter  into 
the  shade,  and  seemed  to  render  the  outbreak  of  war  between 
the  two  countries  almost  inevitable.  In  the  year  1874  the 
government  of  India,  repenting  of  its  brief  infatuation  for 
the  Panthay  cause,  yet  still  reluctant  to  lose  the  advantages 
it  had  promised  itself  from  the  opening  of  Yunnan  to  trade, 
resolved  upon  sending  a  formal  mission  of  explory  under 
Colonel  Horace  Browne,  an  officer  of  distinction,  through 
Burmah  to  that  province.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
the  undertaking  seemed  comparatively  few,  as  the  King 
of  Burmah  was  friendly  and  appeared  disposed  at  that  time 
to  accept  his  natural  position  as  the  dependent  of  Calcutta. 
The  Pekin  authorities  also  were  outwardly  not  opposed  to 
the  journey;  and  the  only  opposition  to  be  apprehended  was 
from  the  Yunnan  officials  and  people. 

It  was  thought  desirable,  with  the  view  of  preparing  the 
way  for  the  appearance  of  this  foreign  mission,  that  a  rep- 
resentative of  the  English  embassy  at  Pekin,  having  a 
knowledge  of  the  language  and  of  the  ceremonial  etiquette 
of  the  country,  should  be  deputed  to  proceed  across  China 
and  meet  Colonel  Browne  on  the  Burmese  frontier.  The 
officer  selected  for  this  delicate  and  difficult  mission  was  Mr. 
Raymond  Augustus  Margary,  who  to  the  singular  aptitude 


470  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

he  had  displayed  in  the  study  of  Chinese  added  a  buoyant 
spirit  and  a  vigorous  frame  that  peculiarly  fitted  him  for  the 
long  and  lonely  journey  he  had  undertaken  across  China. 
His  reception  throughout  was  encouraging.  The  orders  of 
the  Tsungli  Yamen,  specially  drawn  up  by  the  Grand  Secre- 
tary Wansiang,  were  explicit,  and  not  to  be  lightly  ignored. 
Mr.  Margary  performed  his  journey  in  safety;  and,  on  Jan- 
uary 26,  1875,  only  one  fortnight  after  Kwangsu's  accession, 
he  joined  Colonel  Browne  at  Bhamo.  A  delay  of  more  than 
three  weeks  ensued  at  Bhamo,  which  was  certainly  unfort- 
unate. Time  was  given  for  the  circulation  of  rumors  as  to 
the  approach  of  a  foreign  invader  along  a  disturbed  frontier 
held  by  tribes  almost  independent,  and  whose  predatory 
instincts  were  excited  by  the  prospect  of  rich  plunder,  at  the 
same  time  that  their  leaders  urged  them  to  oppose  a  change 
which  threatened  to  destroy  their  hold  on  the  caravan  route 
between  Bhamo  and  Talifoo.  When,  on  February  17,  Colonel 
Browne  and  his  companions  approached  the  limits  of  Burmese 
territory,  they  found  themselves  in  face  of  a  totally  different 
state  of  affairs  from  what  had  existed  when  Mr.  Margary 
passed  safely  through  three  weeks  before.  The  preparations 
for  opposing  the  English  had  been  made  under  the  direct  en- 
couragement, and  probably  the  personal  direction,  of  Lisitai, 
a  man  who  had  been  a  brigand  and  then  a  rebel,  but  who  at 
this  time  held  a  military  command  on  the  frontier. 

As  Colonel  Browne  advanced  he  was  met  with  rumors 
of  the  opposition  that  awaited  him.  At  first  these  were  dis- 
credited, but  on  the  renewed  statements  that  a  large  Chinese 
force  had  been  collected  to  bar  his  way,  Mr.  Margary  rode 
forward  to  ascertain  what  truth  there  was  in  these  rumors. 
The  first  town  on  this  route  within  the  Chinese  border  is 
Momein,  which,  under  the  name  of  Tengyue,  was  once  a 
military  station  of  importance,  and  some  distance  east  of  it 
again  is  another  town,  called  Manwein.  Mr.  Margary  set 
out  on  February  19,  and  it  was  arranged  that  only  in  the 
event  of  his  finding  everything  satisfactory  at  Momein  was 
he  to  proceed  to  Manwein. 


THE   REIGN   OF  KWANGSU.  .     471 

Mr.  Margary  reached  Momein  in  safety,  and  reported  in 
a  letter  to  Colonel  Browne  that  all  was  quiet  at  that  place, 
and  that  there  were  no  signs  of  any  resistance.  That  letter 
was  the  last  news  ever  received  from  Mr.  Margary.  On  Feb- 
ruary 19  he  started  from  Momein,  and  the  information  sub- 
sequently obtained  left  no  doubt  that  he  was  treacherously 
murdered  on  that  or  the  following  day  at  Manwein.  An 
ominous  silence  followed,  and  Colonel  Browne's  party  de- 
layed its  advance  until  some  definite  news  should  arrive  as 
to  what  had  occurred  in  front,  although  the  silence  was 
sufficient  to  justify  the  worst  apprehensions.  Three  days 
later  the  rumor  spread  that  Mr.  Margary  and  his  attendants 
had  been  murdered.  It  was  also  stated  that  an  army  was 
advancing  to  attack  the  English  expedition ;  and  on  Febru- 
ary 22  a  large  Chinese  force  did  make  its  appearance  on  the 
neighboring  heights.  There  was  no  longer  any  room  to 
doubt  that  the  worst  had  happened,  and  it  only  remained 
to  secure  the  safety  of  the  expedition.  The  Chinese  num- 
bered several  thousand  men  under  Lisitai  in  person,  while 
to  oppose  them  there  were  only  four  Europeans  and  fifteen 
Sikhs.  Yet  superior  weapons  and  steadfastness  carried  the 
day  against  greater  numbers.  The  Sikhs  fought  as  they 
retired,  and  the  Chinese,  unable  to  make  any  impression 
on  them,  abandoned  an  attack  which  was  both  perilous  and 
useless. 

The  news  of  this  outrage  did  not  reach  Pekin  until  a 
month  later,  when  Mr.  "Wade  at  once  took  the  most  ener- 
getic measures  to  obtain  the  amplest  reparation  in  the  power 
of  the  Pekin  government  to  concede.  The  first  and  most 
necessary  point  in  order  to  insure  not  merely  the  punishment 
of  the  guilty,  but  also  that  the  people  of  China  should  not 
have  cause  to  suppose  that  their  rulers  secretly  sympathized 
with  the  authors  of  the  attack,  was  that  no  punitive  meas- 
ures should  be  undertaken,  or,  if  undertaken,  recognized, 
until  a  special  Commission  of  Inquiry  had  been  appointed 
to  investigate  the  circumstances  on  the  spot.  Mr.  Margary 
was  an  officer  of  the  English  government  traveling  under 


472  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

the  special  permission  and  protection  of  the  Tsungli  Yamen. 
The  Chinese  government  could  not  expect  to  receive  consid- 
eration if  it  failed  to  enforce  respect  for  its  own  commands, 
and  the  English  government  had  an  obligation  which  it 
could  not  shirk  in  exacting  reparation  for  the  murder  of  its 
representative.  The  treacherous  killing  of  Mr.  Margary 
was  evidently  not  an  occurrence  for  which  it  could  be  con- 
sidered a  sufficient  atonement  that  some  miserable  criminals 
under  sentence  of  death,  or  some  desperate  individuals  anx- 
ious to  secure  the  Worldly  prosperity  of  their  families,  should 
undergo  painful  torture  and  public  execution  in  order  to 
shield  official  falseness  and  infamy.  Although  no  one  ever 
suspected  the  Pekin  government  of  having  directly  insti- 
gated the  outrage,  the  delay  in  instituting  an  impartial  and 
searching  inquiry  into  the  affair  strengthened  an  impression 
that  it  felt  reluctant  to  inflict  punishment  on  those  who  had 
committed  the  act  of  violence.  Nearly  three  months  elapsed 
before  any  step  was  taken  toward  appointing  a  Chinese 
official  to  proceed  to  the  scene  of  the  outrage  in  company 
with  the  officers  named  by  the  English  minister;  but  on 
June  19  an  edict  appeared  in  the  "Pekin  Gazette"  ordering 
Li  Han  Chang,  governor-general  of  Houkwang,  to  tempo- 
rarily vacate  his  post,  and  "repair  with  all  speed  to  Yunnan 
to  investigate  and  deal  with  certain  matters."  Even  then 
the  matter  dragged  along  but  slowly.  Li  Han  Chang,  who, 
as  the  brother  of  Li  Hung  Chang,  was  an  exceptionally  well- 
qualified  and  highly-placed  official  for  the  task,  and  whose 
appointment  was  in  itself  some  evidence  of  sincerity,  did  not 
leave  Hankow  until  August,  and  the  English  commissioners, 
Messrs.  Grosvenor,  Davenport  and  Colborne  Baber,  did  not 
set  out  from  the  same  place  before  the  commencement  of 
October.  The  intervening  months  had  been  employed  by 
Mr.  Wade  in  delicate  and  fluctuating  negotiation  with  Li 
Hung  Chang  (who  had  succeeded  Tseng  Kwofan  as  Viceroy 
of  Pechihli  and  who  had  now  come  to  the  front  as  the  chief 
official  in  the  Chinese  service)  at  Tientsin  and  with  the 
Tsungli  Yamen  at  Pekin.     It  was  not  till  the  end  of  the 


THE   REIGN  OF   KWANGSU.  473 

year  that  the  commission  to  ascertain  the  fate  of  Mr.  Mar- 
gary  began  its  active  work  on  the  spot.  The  result  was 
unexpectedly  disappointing.  The  mandarins  supported  one 
another.  The  responsibility  was  thrown  on  several  minor 
officials,  and  on  the  border-tribes  or  savages.  Several  of  the 
latter  were  seized,  and  their  lives  were  offered  as  atonement 
for  an  offense  they  had  not  committed.  The  furthest  act 
of  concession  which  the  Chinese  commissioner  gave  was  to 
temporarily  suspend  Tsen  Yuying  the  Futai  for  remissness; 
but  even  this  measure  was  never  enforced  with  rigor.  The 
English  officers  soon  found  that  it  was  impossible  to  obtain 
any  proper  reparation  on  the  spot. 

Sir  Thomas  "Wade,  who  was  knighted  during  the  negoti- 
ations, refused  to  accept  the  lives  of  the  men  offered,  whose 
complicity  in  the  offense  was  known  to  be  none  at  all,  while 
its  real  instigators  escaped  without  any  punishment.  "When 
the  new  year,  1876,  opened,  the  question  was  still  unsettled, 
and  it  was  clear  that  no  solution  could  be  discovered  on  the 
spot.  Sir  Thomas  Wade  again  called  upon  the  Chinese  in 
the  most  emphatic  language  allowed  by  diplomacy  to  con- 
form with  the  spirit  and  letter  of  their  engagements,  and  he 
informed  the  Tsungli  Yamen  that  unless  they  proffered  full 
redress  for  Mr.  Margary's  murder  it  would  be  impossible  to 
continue  diplomatic  relations.  To  show  that  this  was  no 
meaningless  expression,  Sir  Thomas  "Wade  left  Pekin,  while 
a  strong  re-enforcement  to  the  English  fleet  demonstrated 
that  the  government  was  resolved  to  support  its  representa- 
tive. In  consequence  of  these  steps,  Li  Hung  Chang  was, 
in  August,  1876,  or  more  than  eighteen  months  after  the 
outrage,  intrusted  with  full  powers  for  the  arrangement  of 
the  difficulty;  and  the  small  seaport  of  Chefoo  was  fixed 
upon  as  the  scene  for  the  forthcoming  negotiations.  Even 
then  the  Chinese  sought  to  secure  a  sentimental  advantage 
by  requesting  that  Sir  Thomas  Wade  would  change  the  scene 
of  discussion  to  Tientsin,  or  at  least  that  he  would  consent  to 
pay  Li  Hung  Chang  a  visit  there.  This  final  effort  to  con- 
ceal the  fact  that  the  English  demanded  redress  as  an  equal 


474  A    SHORT  HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

and  not  as  a  suppliant  having  been  baffled,  there  was  no 
further  attempt  at  delay.  The  Chef oo  Convention  was  signed 
in  that  town,  to  which  the  viceroy  proceeded  from  Tientsin. 
Li  Hung  Chang  entertained  the  foreign  ministers  at  a  great 
banquet;  and  the  final  arrangements  were  hurried  forward 
for  the  departure  to  Europe  of  the  Chinese  embassador, 
whose  dispatch  had  been  decided  upon  in  the  previous 
year.  When  the  secret  history  of  this  transaction  is  re- 
vealed it  will  be  seen  how  sincere  were  Li  Hung  Chang's 
wishes  for  a  pacific  result,  and  how  much  his  advice  con- 
tributed to  this  end. 

The  most  important  passage  in  the  Chefoo  Convention 
was  unquestionaly  that  commanding  the  different  viceroys 
and  governors  to  respect,  and  afford  every  protection  to,  all 
foreigners  provided  with  the  necessary  passport  from  the 
Tsungli  Yamen,  and  warning  them  that  they  would  be  held 
responsible  in  the  event  of  any  such  travelers  meeting  with 
injury  or  maltreatment.  The  next  most  important  passage 
Was  that  arranging  for  the  dispatch  of  an  embassy  to  Lon- 
don bearing  a  letter  of  regret  for  the  murder  of  the  English 
official.  The  official  selected  for  this  duty  was  Kwo  Sung- 
tao,  a  mandarin  of  high  rank  and  unexceptionable  charac- 
ter. The  letter  was  submitted  to  Sir  Thomas  "Wade  in  order 
that  its  terms  should  be  exactly  in  accordance  with  Chinese 
etiquette,  and  that  no  phrase  should  be  used  showing  that 
the  Chinese  government  attached  less  importance  to  the 
mission  than  the  occasion  demanded.  The  embassy  pro- 
ceeded to  Europe,  and,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  its 
immediate  effect,  it  must  be  allowed  that  it  established  a 
precedent  of  friendly  intercourse  with  this  country,  which 
promises  to  prove  an  additional  guarantee  of  peace.  Kwo 
Sungtao  was  accompanied  by  the  present  Sir  Halliday  Ma- 
cartney, who  had  rendered  such  good  service  to  China,  his 
adopted  country,  during  the  Taeping  war  and  afterward, 
and  who,  during  the  last  sixteen  years,  has  taught  the  Chi- 
nese government  how  to  make  itself  listened  to  by  the  most 
powerful  States  of  Europe. 


THE    REIQN   OF  KWANOb'U.  475 

A  curiou*  incident  arising  from  the  passion  of  gambling 
which  is  so  prevalent  in  China,  and  bearing  incidentally 
upon  the  national  character,  may  be  briefly  referred  to. 
The  attention  of  the  Pekin  government  was  attracted  to 
this  subject  by  a  novel  form  of  gambling,  which  not  merely 
attained  enormous  dimensions,  but  which  threatened  to  bring 
the  system  of  public  examination  into  disrepute.  This  latter 
fact  created  a  profound  impression  at  Pekin,  and  roused  the 
mandarins  to  take  unusually  prompt  measures.  Canton  was 
the  headquarters  of  the  gambling  confederacy  which  estab- 
lished the  lotteries  known  as  the  Weising,  but  its  ramifica- 
tions extended  throughout  the  whole  of  the  province  of 
Kwantung.  The  "Weising,  or  examination  sweepstakes, 
were  based  on  the  principle  of  drawing  the  names  of  the 
successful  candidates  at  the  official  examinations.  They 
appealed,  therefore,  to  every  poor  villager,  and  every  father 
of  a  family,  as  well  as  to  the  aspirants  themselves.  The 
subscribers  to  the  "Weising  lists  were  numbered  by  hundreds 
of  thousands.  It  became  a  matter  of  almost  as  much  im- 
portance to  draw  a  successful  number  or  name  in  the  lottery 
as  to  take  the  degree.  The  practice  could  not  have  been 
allowed  to  go  on  without  introducing  serious  abuses  into  the 
system  of  public  examination.  The  profits  to  the  owners  of 
the  lottery  were  so  enormous  that  they  were  able  to  pay  not 
less  than  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  as  hush-money  to 
the  viceroy  and  the  other  high  officials  of  Canton.  In  order 
to  shield  his  own  participation  in  the  profits,  the  viceroy 
declared  that  he  devoted  this  new  source  of  revenue  to  the 
completion  of  the  river  defenses  of  Canton. 

In  1874  the  whole  system  was  declared  illegal,  and  severe 
penalties  were  passed  against  those  aiding,  or  participating 
in  any  way  in,  the  Weising  Company.  The  local  officers  did 
not,  however,  enforce  with  any  stringency  these  new  laws, 
and  the  "Weising  fraternity  enjoyed  a  further  but  brief 
period  of  increased  activity  under  a  different  name.  The 
fraud  was  soon  detected,  and  in  an  edict  of  August  11,  1875, 
it  was  very  rightly  laid  down  that  "the  maintenance  of  the 


470  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

purity  of  government  demands  that  it  be  not  allowed  under 
any  pretext  to  be  re-established,"  and  for  their  apathy  in 
the  matter  the  Viceroy  Yinghan  and  several  of  the  highest 
officials  in  Canton  were  disgraced  and  stripped  of  their  offi- 
cial rank. 

In  China  natural  calamities  on  a  colossal  scale  have  often 
aggravated  political  troubles.  The  year  1876  witnessed  the 
commencement  of  a  dearth  in  the  two  great  provinces  of 
Honan  and  Shansi  which  has  probably  never  been  surpassed 
as  the  cause  of  a  vast  amount  of  human  suffering.  Al- 
though the  provinces  named  suffered  the  most  from  the 
prevalent  drought,  the  suffering  was  general  over  the  whole 
of  Northern  China,  from  Shantung  and  Pechihli  to  Honan 
and  the  course  of  the  Yellow  River.  At  first  the  govern- 
ment, if  not  apathetic,  was  disposed  to  say  that  the  evil 
would  be  met  by  the  grant  of  the  usual  allowance  made  by 
the  provincial  governors  in  the  event  of  distress ;  but  when 
one  province  after  another  was  absorbed  within  the  famine 
area,  it  became  no  longer  possible  to  treat  the  matter  as 
one  of  such  limited  importance,  and  the  high  ministers  felt 
obliged  to  bestir  themselves  in  face  of  so  grave  a  danger. 
Li  Hung  Chang  in  particular  was  most  energetic,  not  merely 
in  collecting  and  forwarding  supplies  of  rice  and  grain,  but 
also  in  inviting  contributions  of  money  from  all  those  parts 
of  the  empire  which  had  not  been  affected  by  famine.  Al- 
lowing for  the  general  sluggishness  of  popular  opinion  in 
China,  and  for  the  absence  of  any  large  amount  of  currency, 
it  must  be  allowed  that  these  appeals  met  with  a  large  and 
liberal  response.  The  foreign  residents  also  contributed  their 
share,  and  even  the  charity  of  London  found  a  vent  in  send- 
ing some  thousands  of  pounds  to  the  scene  of  the  famine  in 
^Northern  China.  This  evidence  of  foreign  sympathy  in  the 
cause  of  a  common  humanity  made  more  than  a  passing  im- 
pression on  the  minds  of  the  Chinese  people. 

While  the  origin  of   the  famine  may  be  attributed  to 
either  drought  or  civil  war,  there  is  no  doubt  that  its  exten 
sion  and  the  apparent  inability  of  the  authorities  to  grapple 


THE   REIGN  OF  KWANGSU.  47? 

with  it  may  be  traced  to  the  want  of  means  of  communi- 
cation, which  rendered  it  almost  impossible  to  convey  the 
needful  succor  into  the  famine  districts.  The  evil  being  so 
obvious,  it  was  hoped  that  the  Chinese  would  be  disposed  to 
take  a  step  forward  on  their  own  initiative  in  the  great  and 
needed  work  of  the  introduction  of  railways  and  other  me- 
chanical appliances.  The  viceroy  of  the  Two  Kiang  gave  his 
assent  to  the  construction  of  a  short  line  between  Shanghai 
and  the  port  of  Woosung.  The  great  difficulty  had  always 
been  to  make  a  start;  and  now  that  a  satisfactory  com- 
mencement had  been  made  the  foreigners  were  disposed  in 
their  eagerness  to  overlook  all  obstacles,  and  to  imagine  the 
Flowery  Land  traversed  in  all  directions  by  railways.  But 
these  expectations  were  soon  shown  to  be  premature.  Half 
of  the  railway  was  open  for  use  in  the  summer  of  1876,  and 
during  some  weeks  the  excitement  among  the  Chinese  them- 
selves was  as  marked  as  among  the  Europeans.  The  hopes 
based  upon  this  satisfactory  event  were  destined  to  be  soon 
dispelled  by  the  animosity  of  the  officials.  They  announced 
their  intention  to  resort  to  every  means  in  their  power  to 
prevent  the  completion  of  the  undertaking.  The  situation 
revealed  such  dangers  of  mob  violence  that  Sir  Thomas 
"Wade  felt  compelled  to  request  the  company  to  discontinue 
its  operations,  and  after  some  discussion  it  was  arranged 
that  the  Chinese  should  buy  the  line.  After  a  stipulated 
period  the  line  was  placed  under  Chinese  management, 
when,  instead  of  devoting  themselves  to  the  interests  of 
the  railway,  and  to  the  extension  of  its  power  of  utility, 
they  willfully  and  persistently  neglected  it,  with  the  express* 
design  of  destroying  it.  At  this  conjuncture  the  viceroy 
allowed  the  Governor  of  Fuhkien  to  remove  the  rails  and 
plant  to  Formosa.  The  fate  of  the  Woosung  railway  de- 
stroyed the  hopes  created  by  its  construction,  and  postponed 
to  a  later  day  the  great  event  of  the  introduction  of  railways 
into  China.  Notwithstanding  such  disappointments  as  this, 
and  the  ever  present  difficulty  of  conducting  relations  with 
an  unsympathetic  people  controlled  by  suspicious  officials, 


478  A    SH0R1    HISTORY  Of    CHINA. 

there  was  yet  observable  a  marked  improvement  in  the  re- 
lations of  the  different  nations  with  the  Chinese.  Increased 
facilities  of  trade,  such  as  the  opening  of  new  ports,  far 
from  extending  the  arss  of  danger,  served  to  promote  a 
mutual  goodwill.  In  1876  Kiungchow,  in  the  island  of 
Hainan,  was  made  a  treaty  port,  or  rather  the  fact  of  its 
having  been  included  in  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin  was  prac- 
tically accepted  and  recognized.  In  the  following  year  four 
new  ports  were  added  to  the  list.  One,  Pakhoi,  was  intended 
to  increase  trade  intercourse  with  Southern  China.  Two  of 
the  three  others,  Ichang  and  Wuhu,  were  selected  as  being 
favorably  situated  for  commerce  on  the  Yangtse  and  its 
affluents,  while  "Wenchow  was  chosen  for  the  benefit  of  the 
trade  on  the  coast.  Mr.  Colborne  Baber,  who  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Yunnan  commission,  was  dispatched  to 
Szchuen,  to  take  up  his  residence  at  Chungking  for  the 
purpose  of  facilitating  trade  with  that  great  province.  The 
successful  tour  of  Captain  Gill,  not  merely  through  South- 
west China  into  Burmah,  but  among  some  of  the  wilder  and 
more  remote  districts  of  Northern  Szchuen,  afforded  reason 
to  believe  that  henceforth  traveling  would  be  safer  in  China, 
and  nothing  that  has  since  happened  is  calculated  to  weaken 
that  impression. 

When  Kwangsu  ascended  the  throne  the  preparations  for 
the  campaign  against  Kashgaria  were  far  advanced  toward 
completion,  and  Kinshun  had  struck  the  first  of  those  blows 
which  were  to  insure  the  overthrow  of  the  Tungani  and  of 
Yakoob  Beg.  The  fall  of  Souchow  had  distinguished  the 
closing  weeks  of  the  year  1873,  and  in  1874  Kinshun  had 
begun,  under  the  direction  of  Tso  Tsung  Tang,  who  wag 
described  by  a  French  writer  as  "very  intelligent,  of  a  brav- 
ery beyond  all  question,  and  an  admirable  organizer,"  his 
march  across  the  desert  to  the  west.  He  followed  a  cir- 
cuitous line  of  march,  with  a  view  of  avoiding  the  strongly 
placed  and  garrisoned  town  of  Hami.  The  exact  route  is 
not  certain,  but  he  seems  to  have  gone  as  far  north  aa 
Uliassutai,  where  he  was  able  to  recruit  some  of  the  most 


THE  REIQN  OF  KWANttSU.  47£ 

faithful  and  warlike  of  the  Mongol  tribes.     But  early  in 

1875  he  arrived  before  the  walls  of  Barkul,  a  town  lying  to 
the  northwest  of  Hanii.  No  resistance  was  offered,  and  a 
few  weeks  later  Hami  was  also  occupied.  The  Tungani 
retreated  on  the  approach  of  the  Chinese,  and  assembled 
their  main  force  for  the  defense  of  the  two  towns  of  Urumtsi 
and  Manas,  which  are  situated  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
eastern  spurs  of  the  Tian  Shan.  Once  Barkul  and  Hami 
were  in  the  possession  of  the  Chinese,  it  became  necessary 
to  reopen  direct  communications  with  Souchow.  This  task 
occupied  the  whole  of  the  next  twelve  months,  and  was  only 
successfully  accomplished  after  many  difficulties  had  been 
overcome,  and  when  halting-stations  had  been  established 
across  Gobi.  There  is  nothing  improbable  in  the  statement 
that  during  this  period  the  Chinese  planted  and  reaped  the 
seed  which  enabled  them,  or  those  who  followed  in  their 
train,   to  march  in  the  following  season.     "With  the  year 

1876  the  really  arduous  portion  of  the  campaign  com- 
menced. The  natural  difficulties  to  the  commencement  of 
the  war  from  distance  and  desert  had  been  all  overcome. 
An  army  of  about  twenty-five  thousand  effective  troops, 
besides  a  considerable  number  of  Mongol  and  other  tribal 
levies,  had  been  placed  in  the  field  and  within  striking  dis- 
tance of  the  rebels.  The  enemies  were  face  to  face.  The 
Tungani  could  retreat  no  further.  Neither  from  Russia  nor 
from  Yakoob  Beg  could  they  expect  a  place  of  refuge.  The 
Athalik  Ghazi  might  help  them  to  hold  their  own ;  he  cer- 
tainly would  not  welcome  them  within  the  limits  of  the  six 
cities.  The  Tungani  had,  therefore,  no  alternative  left  save 
to  make  as  resolute  a  stand  as  they  could  against  the  Chi- 
nese who  had  returned  to  revenge  their  fellow-countrymen 
who  had  been  slaughtered  in  their  thousands  twelve  years 
before.  The  town  of  Urumtsi,  situated  within  a  loop  of  the 
mountains,  lies  at  a  distance  by  road  of  more  than  300  miles 
from  Barkul.  Kinshun,  who  had  now  been  joined  by  Liu 
Kintang,  the  taotai  of  the  Sining  district  and  a  man  of 
proved  energy  and  capacity,  resolved  to  concentrate  all  his 


480  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

efforts  on  its  capture.  He  moved  forward  his  army  to 
Guchen,  200  miles  west  of  Barkul,  where  he  established  a 
fortified  camp  and  a  powder  factory,  and  took  steps  to  ascer- 
tain the  strength  and  intentions  of  the  enemy.  Toward  the 
end  of  July  the  Chinese  army  resumed  its  march.  The  diffi- 
culties of  the  country  were  so  great  that  the  advanced  guards 
of  the  opposing  armies  did  not  come  into  contact  until  Au- 
gust 10.  The  Chinese  general  seems  to  have  attempted  on 
that  date  anight  surprise;  but  although  he  gained  some  suc- 
cess in  the  encounter  which  ensued,  the  result  must  have 
been  doubtful,  seeing  that  he  felt  obliged  to  call  off  his  men 
from  the  attack.  It  was  only,  however,  to  collect  his  forces 
for  the  delivery  of  a  decisive  blow.  On  August  13  a  second 
battle  was  fought  with  a  result  favorable  to  the  Chinese. 
Two  days  later  the  enemy,  who  held  a  fortified  camp  at 
Gumti,  were  bombarded  out  of  it  by  the  heavy  artillery 
brought  from  the  coasts  of  China  for  the  purposes  of  the 
war,  and  after  twenty-four  hours'  firing  three  breaches 
were  declared  to  be  practicable.  The  place  was  carried  by 
storm  at  the  close  of  four  hours'  fighting  and  slaughter, 
during  which  6,000  men  were  stated  to  have  been  killed. 
Kinshun  followed  up  his  victory  by  a  rapid  march  on 
Urumtsi.  That  town  surrendered  without  a  blow,  and 
many  hundred  fugitives  were  cut  down  by  the  unsparing 
Manchu  cavalry,  which  pursued  them  along  the  road  to 
Manas,  their  last  place  of  shelter.  As  soon  as  the  neces- 
sary measures  had  been  taken  for  the  military  protection  of 
Urumtsi,  the  Chinese  army  proceeded  against  Manas.  Their 
activity,  which  was  facilitated  by  the  favorable  season  of 
the  year,  was  also  increased  by  the  rumored  approach  of 
Yakoob  Beg  with  a  large  army  to  the  assistance  of  the  Tun- 
gani.  At  Manas  the  survivors  of  the  Tungan  movement 
proper  had  collected  for  final  resistance,  and  all  that  des- 
peration could  suggest  for  holding  the  place  had  been  done. 
Kinshun  appeared  before  Manas  on  September  2.  On  the 
7th  his  batteries  were  completed,  and  he  began  ft  heavy  fire 
upon  the  northeast  angle  of  the  wall.    A  breach  of  fourteen 


THE  REIGN  OF  KWANGSV.  481 

feet  having  been  made,  the  order  to  assault  was  given,  but 
the  stormers  were  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  100  killed.  The 
operations  of  the  siege  were  renewed  with  great  spirit  on 
both  sides.  Several  assaults  were  subsequently  delivered; 
but  although  the  Chinese  always  gained  some  advantage  at 
the  beginning  they  never  succeeded  in  retaining  it.  In  one 
of  these  later  attacks  they  admitted  a  loss  of  200  killed  alone. 
The  imperial  army  enjoyed  the  undisputed  superiority  in 
artillery,  and  the  gaps  in  its  ranks  were  more  than  filled  by 
the  constant  flow  of  re-enforcements  from  the  rear.  The 
siege  gradually  assumed  a  less  active  character.  The  Chi- 
nese dug  trenches  and  erected  earthworks.  They  approached 
the  walls  by  means  of  galleries  in  readiness  to  deliver  the 
attack  on  any  symptom  of  discouragement  among  the  be- 
sieged. On  October  16  a  mine  was  sprang  under  the  wall, 
making  a  wide  breach;  but  although  the  best  portion  of  the 
Chinese  army  made  two  assaults  on  separate  occasions,  they 
were  both  repulsed  with  loss.  Twelve  days  later  another 
mine  was  sprung,  destroying  a  large  portion  of  the  wall; 
but  when  the  Chinese  stormers  endeavored  to  carry  the  re- 
maining works,  they  were  again  driven  back  with  heavy 
loss,  including  two  generals  killed  in  the  breach.  Although 
thus  far  repulsed,  the  imperialists  had  inflicted  very  heavy 
losses  on  the  besieged,  who,  seeing  that  the  end  of  their  re- 
sources was  at  hand,  that  there  was  no  hope  of  succor,  and 
that  the  besiegers  were  as  energetic  as  ever,  at  last  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  they  had  no  choice  left  save  to  surren- 
der od  the  best  terms  they  could  obtain.  On  November  4, 
after  a  two  months'  siege,  Haiyen,  as  the  Chinese  named  the 
Mohammedan  leader,  came  out  and  offered  to  yield  the  town. 
His  offer  seems  to  have  been  partly  accepted,  and  on  the  6th 
of  the  month  the  survivors  of  the  brave  garrison,  to  the 
number  of  between  two  and  three  thousand  men,  sallied 
forth  from  the  west  gate.  It  was  noticed  as  a  ground  of 
suspicion  that  all  the  men  carried  their  weapons,  and  that 
they  had  placed  their  old  men,  women  and  children  in  the 
center  of  their  phalanx  as  if  they  contemplated  rather  a  sortie 

21 


482  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  CHUsA. 

than  a  tame  and  unresisting  surrender.  The  Chinese  com- 
manders were  not  indisposed  to  deal  with  the  least  suspicious 
circumstances  as  if  they  meant  certain  treachery.  The  im- 
perialists gradually  gathered  around  the  garrison.  The  Mo- 
hammedans made  one  bold  effort  to  cut  their  way  through. 
They  failed  in  the  attempt,  and  were  practically  annihilated 
on  the  ground.  Those  men  who  were  taken  by  the  cavalry 
were  at  once  beheaded,  whether  in  the  city  or  among  those 
who  had  gone  forth,  but  the  aged,  the  women  and  the  chil- 
dren were  spared  by  Kinshun's  express  orders.  All  the  leaders 
taken  were  tortured  before  execution  as  rebels,  and  even  the 
bodies  of  the  dead  chiefs  were  exhumed  in  order  that  they 
might  be  subjected  to  indignity.  The  siege  of  Manas  was 
interesting  both  for  the  stubbornness  of  the  attack  and  de- 
fense, and  also  as  marking  the  successful  termination  of  the 
Chinese  campaign  against  the  Tungani.  With  its  capture, 
those  Mohammedans  who  might  be  said  to  be  Chinese  in 
ways  and  appearance  ceased  to  possess  any  political  impor- 
tance. It  would  not  be  going  much  too  far  to  say  that  they 
no  longer  existed.  The  movement  of  rebellion  which  began 
at  Hochow  in  1862  was  thus  repressed  in  1876,  after  having 
involved  during  those  fourteen  years  the  northwestern  prov- 
inces of  China,  and  much  of  the  interior  of  Asia,  in  a  strug- 
gle which,  for  its  bitter  and  sanguinary  character,  has  rarely 
been  surpassed. 

The  successes  of  the  Chinese  gave  their  generals  and  army 
the  confidence  and  prestige  of  victory,  and  the  overthrow  of 
the  Tungani  left  them  disengaged  to  deal  with  a  more  formi- 
dable antagonist.  The  siege  of  Manas  had  been  vigorously- 
prosecuted  in  order  that  the  town  might  be  taken  before  the 
army  of  Yakoob  Beg  should  arrive.  The  Athalik  Ghazi 
may  have  believed  that  Manas  could  hold  out  during  the 
winter,  for  his  movements  in  1876  were  leisurely,  and  be- 
trayed a  confidence  that  no  decisive  fighting  would  take 
place  until  the  following  spring.  His  hopes  were  shown  to 
be  delusive,  but  too  late  for  practical  remedy.  Manas  had 
fallen  before  he  could  move  to  its  support.     The  Chinese 


KANG,  THE  REFORMER 


Ckt, 


THE   REIGN    OF  KWANOSV.  484 

bad  crushed  the  Tungani,  and  were  in  possession  of  the 
mountain  passes.  They  were  gathering  their  whole  strength 
to  fall  upon  him,  and  to  drive  him  out  of  the  state  in  which 
he  had  managed  to  set  up  a  brief  authority.  "While  the 
events  recorded  had  been  in  progress,  Yakoob  Beg  had  been 
ruling  the  state  of  Kashgaria  with  sufficient  vigor  and  wis- 
dom to  attract  the  observation  of  his  great  neighbors,  the 
governments  of  England  and  Russia.  He  had  shown  rare 
skill  in  adapting  circumstances  to  suit  his  own  ends.  The 
people  passively  accepted  the  authority  which  he  was  pre- 
pared to  assert  with  his  Khokandian  soldiery,  and  the  inde- 
pendent state  of  Kashgaria  might  have  continued  to  exist 
for  a  longer  period  had  the  Chinese  not  returned.  But  in 
1875  the  arrival  of  Kinshun  at  Barkul  showed  Yakoob  Beg 
that  he  would  have  to  defend  his  possessions  against  their 
lawful  owners,  while  the  overthrow  of  the  Tungani  and  the 
capture  of  their  strongholds,  in  1876,  carried  with  them  a 
melancholy  foreboding  of  his  own  fate.  The  Athalik  Ghazi 
made  his  preparations  to  take  the  field,  but  there  was  no 
certainty  in  his  mind  as  to  where  he  should  make  his  stand. 
He  moved  his  army  eastward,  establishing  his  camp  first  at 
Korla  and  then  moving  it  on  to  Turfan,  900  miles  distant 
from  Kashgar.  The  greatest  efforts  of  this  ruler  only 
availed  to  place  15,000  men  at  the  front,  and  the  barren- 
ness of  the  region  compelled  him  to  distribute  them.  The 
Ameer  was  at  Turfan  with  8,500  men  and  twenty  guns. 
His  second  son  was  at  Toksoun,  some  miles  in  the  rear,  at 
the  head  of  6,000  more  and  five  guns.  There  were  several 
smaller  detachments  between  Korla  and  the  front.  Opposed 
to  these  was  the  main  Chiuese  army  under  Kinshun  at 
Urumtsi,  while  another  force  had  been  placed  in  the  field 
at  Hanoi  by  the  energy  of  Tso,  and  intrusted  to  the  direc- 
tion of  a  general  named  Chang  Yao.  No  fighting  took 
place  until  the  month  of  March,  1877,  and  then  the  cam- 
paign began  with  a  rapid  advance  by  Chang  Yao  from 
Hami  to  Turfan.  The  Kashgarians  were  driven  out  of 
Pidjam,  and  compelled,  after  a  battle,  to  evacuate  Turfan. 


484  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

The  Chinese  records  do  not  help  us  to  unravel  the  events 
of  the  month  of  April.  The  campaign  contained  no  more 
striking  or  important  episodes,  and  yet  the  reports  of  the 
generals  have  been  mislaid  or  consigned  to  oblivion.  The 
Athalik  Ghazi  fought  a  second  battle  at  Toksoun,  where  he 
rejoined  his  son's  army,  but  with  no  better  fortune.  He 
was  obliged  to  flee  back  to  his  former  camp  at  Korla.  After 
the  capture  of  Turfan  the  Chinese  armies  came  to  a  halt.  It 
was  necessary  to  reorganize  the  vast  territory  which  they 
had  already  recovered,  and  to  do  something  to  replenish 
their  arsenals.  During  five  months  the  Celestials  stayed 
their  further  advance,  while  the  cities  were  being  re-peopled 
and  the  roads  rendered  once  more  secure.  Tso  Tsung  Tang 
would  leave  nothing  to  chance.  He  had  accomplished  two 
of  the  three  parts  into  which  his  commission  might  be  natu- 
rally divided.  He  had  pacified  the  northwest  and  over- 
thrown the  Tungani,  and  he  would  make  sure  of  his  ground 
before  attempting  the  third  and  the  most  difficult  of  all. 
And  while  the  Chinese  viceroy  had,  for  his  own  reasons, 
come  to  the  very  sensible  conclusion  to  refresh  his  army 
after  its  arduous  labors  in  the  limited  productive  region 
situated  between  two  deserts,  the  stars  \n  their  courses 
fought  on  his  side. 

Yakoob  Beg  had  withdrawn  only  to  Korla.  He  still 
cherished  the  futile  scheme  of  defending  the  eastern  limits 
of  his  dominion,  but  with  his  overthrow  on  the  field  of  bat- 
tle the  magic  power  which  he  had  exercised  over  his  sub- 
jects vanished.  His  camp  became  the  scene  of  factious 
rivalry  and  of  plots  to  advance  some  individual  prttension 
at  the  cost  of  the  better  interests  and  even  the  security  of 
the  State.  The  exact  details  of  the  conspiracy  will  never 
be  known,  partly  from  the  remoteness  of  the  scene,  but  also 
on  account  of  the  mention  of  persons  of  whom  nothing  was, 
or  is  ever  likely  to  be,  known.  The  single  fact  remains 
clear  that  Yakoob  Beg  died  at  Korla  on  May  1,  1877,  of 
fever  according  to  one  account,  of  poison  administered  by 
Hakim  Khan  Torah  according  to  another.     Still  the  Chi- 


THE   REIGN   OF   KWANGSU.  485 

nese  did  not  even  then  advance,  and  Yakoob's  sons  were 
left  to  contest  with  Hakim  Khan  Torah  over  the  dismem- 
bered fragments  of  their  father's  realm.  A  bitter  and  pro- 
tracted civil  war  followed  close  upon  the  disappearance  of 
the  Athalik  Ghazi.  On  the  removal  of  his  dead  body  for 
sepulture  to  Kashgar  his  eldest  son,  Kuli  Beg,  murdered  his 
younger  brother  over  their  father's  bier.  It  was  then  that 
Hakim  Khan  came  prominently  forward  as  a  rival  to  Kuli 
Beg,  and  that  the  Mohammedans,  weak  and  numerically 
few  as  they  were,  divided  themselves  into  two  hostile  par- 
ties. While  the  Chinese  were  recruiting  their  troops  and 
repairing  their  losses,  the  enemy  were  exhausting  them- 
selves in  vain  and  useless  struggles.  In  June,  1877,  Hakim 
Khan  was  signally  defeated  and  compelled  to  flee  into  Rus- 
sian territory,  whence  on  a  later  occasion  he  returned  for  a 
short  time  in  a  vain  attempt  to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of 
Chinese  rule.  "When,  therefore,  the  Chinese  resumed  their 
advance  much  of  their  work  had  been  done  for  them.  They 
had  only  to  complete  the  overthrow  of  an  enemy  whom  they 
had  already  vanquished,  and  who  was  now  exhausted  by 
his  own  disunion.  The  Chinese  army  made  no  forward 
movement  from  Toksoun  until  the  end  of  August,  1877. 
Liu  Kin  tang,  to  whom  the  command  of  the  advance  had 
been  given,  did  not  leave  until  one  month  later;  and  when 
he  arrayed  his  forces  he  found  them  to  number  about  15,000 
men.  It  had  been  decided  that  the  first  advance  should  not 
be  made  in  greater  force,  as  the  chief  difficulty  was  to  feed 
the  army,  not  to  defeat  the  enemy. 

The  resistance  encountered  was  very  slight,  and  the  coun- 
try was  found  to  be  almost  uninhabited.  Both  Karashar  and 
Korla  were  occupied  by  a  Chinese  garrison,  and  the  district 
around  them  was  intrusted  to  the  administration  of  a  local 
chief.  Information  that  the  rebel  force  was  stationed  at  the 
next  town,  Kucha,  which  is  as  far  beyond  Korla  as  that  place 
\s  from  Toksoun,  induced  Liu  Kintang  to  renew  his  march 
and  to  continue  it  still  more  rapidly.  A  battle  was  fought 
outside  Kucha  in  which  the  Chinese  were  victorious,  but  not 


486  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

until  they  had  overcome  stubborn  resistance.  However,  the 
Chinese  success  was  complete,  and  with  Kucha  in  their  power 
they  had  simplified  the  process  of  attacking  Kashgar  itself. 
A  further  halt  was  made  at  this  town  to  enable  the  men  to 
recover  from  their  fatigue,  to  allow  fresh  troops  to  come  up, 
and  measures  to  be  taken  for  insuring  the  security  of  com- 
munications with  the  places  in  the  rear.  At  Kucha  also  the 
work  of  civil  administration  was  intrusted  to  some  of  the 
local  notables.  The  deliberation  of  the  Chinese  movements, 
far  from  weakening  their  effect,  invested  their  proceedings 
with  the  aspect  of  being  irresistible.  The  advance  was 
shortly  resumed.  Aksu,  a  once  flourishing  city  within  the 
limits  of  the  old  kingdom  of  Kashgar,  surrendered  at  the 
end  of  October.  Ush  Turfan  yielded  a  few  days  later.  The 
Chinese  had  now  got  within  striking  distance  of  the  capital 
of  the  state.  They  had  only  to  provide  the  means  of  mak- 
ing the  blow  as  fatal  and  decisive  as  possible.  \n  December 
they  seized  Maralbashi,  an  important  position  on  the  Kashgar 
Darya,  commanding  the  principal  roads  to  both  Yarkand  and 
Kashgar.  Yarkand  was  the  chief  object  of  attack.  It  sur- 
rendered without  a  blow  on  December  21.  A  second  Chinese 
army  had  been  sent  from  Maralbashi  to  Kashgar,  which  was 
defended  by  a  force  of  several  thousand  men.  It  had  been 
besieged  nine  days,  when  Liu  Kintang  arrived  with  his  troops 
from  Yarkand.  A  battle  ensued,  in  which  the  Mohamme- 
dans were  vanquished,  and  the  city  with  the  citadel  outside 
captured.  Several  rebel  leaders  and  some  eleven  hundred 
men  were  said  to  have  been  executed ;  but  Kuli  Beg  escaped 
into  Russian  territory.  The  city  of  Kashgar  was  taken  on 
December  26,  and  one  week  later  the  town  of  Khoten,  fa- 
mous from  a  remote  period  for  its  jade  ornaments,  passed 
Into  the  hands  of  the  race  who  best  appreciated  their  beauty 
and  value.  The  Chinese  thus  brought  to  a  triumphant  con- 
clusion the  campaigns  undertaken  for  the  reassertion  of  their 
authority  over  the  Mohammedan  populations  which  had  re- 
volted. They  had  conquered  in  this  war  by  the  superiority 
of  their  weapons  and  their  organization,  and  not  by  an  over- 


THE   REIGN  OF  KWANQSU.  48? 

whelming  display  of  numbers.  Although  large  bodies  of 
troops  were  stationed  at  many  places,  it  does  not  seem  that 
the  army  which  seized  the  cities  of  Yarkand  and  Kashgar 
numbered  more  than  twenty  thousand  men.  Having  van- 
quished their  enemy  in  the  field,  the  Celestials  devoted  all 
their  attention  to  the  reorganization  of  what  was  called  the 
New  Dominion,  the  capital  of  which  after  much  deliberation 
was  fixed  at  Urumtsi.  Their  rule  has  been  described  by  a 
Mussulman  as  being  both  very  fair  and  very  just. 

Having  conquered  Eastern  Turkestan,  the  Chinese  next 
took  steps  for  the  recovery  of  Hi.  "Without  the  metropolitan 
province  the  undertaking  of  Tso  Tsung  Tang  would  lack 
completeness,  while  indeed  many  political  and  military  dan- 
gers would  attend  the  situation  in  Central  Asia.  But  this 
was  evidently  a  matter  to  be  effected  in  the  first  place  by 
negotiation,  and  not  by  violence  and  force  of  arms.  Russia 
had  always  been  a  friendly  and  indeed  a  sympathetic  neigh- 
bor. In  this  very  matter  of  Hi  she  had  originally  acted  with 
the  most  considerate  attention  for  China's  rights,  when  it 
seemed  that  they  had  permanently  lost  all  definite  meaning, 
for  she  had  declared  that  she  would  surrender  it  on  China 
sending  a  sufficient  force  to  take  possession,  and  now  this 
had  been  done.  It  was,  therefore,  by  diplomatic  representa- 
tions on  the  part  of  the  Tsungli  Yamen  to  the  Russian  Min- 
ister at  Pekin  that  the  recovery  of  Hi  was  expected  in  the 
first  place  to  be  achieved.  At  about  the  same  time  the  Rus- 
sian authorities  at  Tashkent  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
matter  must  rest  with  the  Czar,  and  the  Chinese  official  world 
perceived  that  they  would  have  to  depute  a  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary to  St.  Petersburg. 

The  official  selected  for  the  difficult  and,  as  it  proved, 
dangerous  task  of  negotiating  at  St.  Petersburg,  was  that 
same  Chung  How  who  had  been  sent  to  Paris  after  the 
Tientsin  massacre.  He  arrived  at  Pekin  in  August,  1878, 
and  was  received  in  several  audiences  by  the  empresses  while 
waiting  for  his  full  instructions  from  the  Tsungli  Yamen. 
He  did  not  leave  until  October,  about  a  month  after  the 


488  A    SHORT  HISTOliY   OF   CHINA. 

Marquis  Tseng,  Tseng  Kwofan's  eldest  son,  set  out  from 
Pelrin  to  take  the  place  of  Kwo  Sungtao  as  Minister  in 
London  and  Paris.  Chung  How  reached  St.  Petersburg 
in  the  early  part  of  the  following  year,  and  the  discussion 
of  the  various  points  in  question,  protracted  by  the  removal 
of  the  court  to  Livadia,  occupied  the  whole  of  the  summer 
months.  At  last  it  was  announced  that  a  treaty  had  been 
signed  at  Livadia,  by  which  Russia  surrendered  the  Kuldja 
valley,  but  retained  that  of  the  Tekes,  which  left  in  her 
hands  the  command  of  the  passes  through  the  Tian  Shan 
range  into  Kashgar.  Chung  How  knew  nothing  about  fron- 
tiers or  military  precautions,  but  he  thought  a  great  deal 
about  money.  He  fought  the  question  of  an  indemnity  with 
ability,  and  got  it  fixed  at  five  million  roubles,  or  little  more 
than  half  that  at  which  it  was  placed  by  the  later  treaty. 
There  was  never  any  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Chinese  gov 
ernment  would  accept  the  partial  territorial  concession  ob- 
tained by  Chung  How.  The  first  greeting  that  met  Chung 
How  on  his  return  revealed  the  fate  of  his  treaty.  He  had 
committed  the  indiscretion  of  returning  without  waiting  for 
the  Edict  authorizing  his  return,  and  as  the  consequence  he 
had  to  accept  suspension  from  all  his  offices,  while  his  treaty 
was  submitted  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  grand  secretaries, 
the  six  presidents  of  boards,  the  nine  chief  ministers  of  state, 
and  the  members  of  the  Hanlin.  Three  weeks  later,  Prince 
Chun  was  specially  ordered  to  join  the  Committee  of  Delib- 
eration. On  January  27  Chung  How  was  formally  cashiered 
and  arrested,  and  handed  over  to  the  Board  of  Punishment 
for  correction.  The  fate  of  the  treaty  itself  was  decided  a 
fortnight  later.  Chung  How  was  then  declared  to  have 
"disobeyed  his  instructions  and  exceeded  his  powers."  On 
March  3  an  edict  appeared,  sentencing  the  unhappy  envoy 
to  "decapitation  after  incarceration. "  This  sentence  was  not 
carried  out,  and  the  reprieve  of  the  unlucky  envoy  was  due 
to  Queen  Victoria's  expression  of  a  hope  that  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment would  spare  his  life. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  Chinese  refused  their  ratifica- 


THE   REIGN  OF   KWANOSD.  489 

tion  to  Chung  How's  treaty,  they  expressed  their  desire  for 
another  pacific  settlement,  which  would  give  them  more 
complete  satisfaction.  The  Marquis  Tseng  was  accordingly 
instructed  to  take  up  the  thread  of  negotiation,  and  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  Russian  capital  as  Embassador  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary.  Some  delay  ensued,  as  it  was  held  to  be 
doubtful  whether  Russia  would  consent  to  the  reopening  of 
the  question.  But  owing  to  the  cautious  and  well-timed 
approaches  of  the  Marquis  Tseng,  the  St.  Petersburg  For- 
eign Office  acquiesced  in  the  recommencement  of  negotia- 
tions, and,  after  six  months'  discussion,  accepted  the  princi- 
ple of  the  almost  unqualified  territorial  concession  for  which 
the  Chinese  had  stood  firm.  On  February  12,  1881,  these 
views  were  embodied  in  a  treaty,  signed  at  St.  Petersburg, 
and  the  ratification  within  six  months  showed  how  differ- 
ently its  provisions  were  regarded  from  those  of  its  predeces- 
sor. "With  the  Marquis  Tseng's  act  of  successful  diplomacy 
the  final  result  of  the  long  war  in  Central  Asia  was  achieved. 
The  Chinese  added  Hi  to  Kashgar  and  the  rest  of  the  New 
Dominion,  which  at  the  end  of  1880  was  made  into  a  High 
Commissionership  and  placed  under  the  care  of  the  dashing 
General  Liu  Kintang. 

The  close  of  the  great  work  successfully  accomplished 
during  the  two  periods  of  the  Regency  was  followed  within 
a  few  weeks  by  the  disappearance  of  the  most  important  of 
the  personages  who  had  carried  on  the  government  through- 
out these  twenty  years  of  constant  war  and  diplomatic  ex- 
citement. Before  the  Pekin  world  knew  of  her  illness,  it 
heard  of  the  death  of  the  Empress  Dowager  Tsi  An,  who 
as  Hienfung's  principal  widow  had  enjoyed  the  premier 
place  in  the  government,  although  she  had  never  possessed 
a  son  to  occupy  the  throne  in  person.  In  a  proclamation 
issued  in  her  name  and  possibly  at  her  request,  Tsi  An  de- 
scribed the  course  of  her  malady,  the  solicitude  of  the  em- 
peror, and  urged  upon  him  the  duty  of  his  high  place  to  put 
restraint  upon  his  grief.  Her  death  occurred  on  April  18, 
from  heart  disease,  when  she  was  only  forty-five,  and  her 


490  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

funeral  obsequies  were  as  splendid  as  her  services  demanded. 
For  herself  she  had  always  been  a  woman  of  frugal  habits, 
and  the  successful  course  of  recent  Chinese  history  was  largely 
due  to  her  firmness  and  resolution.  Her  associate  in  the 
Regency,  Tsi  Thsi,  who  has  always  been  more  or  less  of  an 
invalid,  still  survives. 

The  difficulty  with  Russia  had  not  long  been  composed, 
when,  on  two  opposite  sides  of  her  extensive  dominion,  China 
was  called  upon  to  face  a  serious  condition  of  affairs.  In 
Corea,  "the  forbidden  land"  of  the  Far  East,  events  were 
forced  by  the  eagerness  and  competition  of  European  states 
to  conclude  treaties  of  commerce  with  that  primitive  king- 
dom, and  perhaps,  also,  by  their  fear  that  if  they  delayed 
Russia  would  appropriate  some  port  on  the  Corean  coast. 
To  all  who  had  official  knowledge  of  Russia's  desire  and 
plan  for  seizing  Port  Lazareff,  this  apprehension  was  far 
from  chimerical,  and  there  was  reason  to  believe  that  Rus- 
sia's encroachment  might  compel  other  countries  to  make 
annexations  in  or  round  Corea  by  way  of  precaution.  Prac- 
tical evidence  of  this  was  furnished  by  the  English  occupa- 
tion of  Port  Hamilton,  and  by  its  subsequent  evacuation 
when  the  necessity  passed  away;  but  should  the  occasion 
again  arise  the  key  of  the  situation  will  probably  be  found 
in  t^e  possession  not  of  Port  Hamilton  or  Quelpart,  but  of 
the  Island  of  Tsiusima.  Recourse  was  had  to  diplomacy  to 
avert  what  threatened  to  be  a  grave  international  danger; 
and  although  the  result  was  long  doubtful,  and  the  situation 
sometimes  full  of  peril,  a  gratifying  success  was  achieved  in 
the  end.  In  1881  a  draft  commercial  treaty  was  drawn  up, 
approved  by  the  Chinese  authorities  and  the  representatives 
of  the  principal  powers  at  Pekin,  and  carried  to  the  court  of 
Seoul  for  acceptance  and  signature  by  the  American  naval 
officer,  Commodore  Schufeldt.  The  Corean  king  made  no 
objection  to  the  arrangement,  and  it  was  signed  with  the 
express  stipulation  that  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty  were 
to  be  exchanged  in  the  following  year.  Thus  was  it  harmo- 
niously arranged  at  Pekin  that  Corea  was  to  issue  from  her 


THE   REIGN  OF  KWANGSU.  491 

hermit's  call,  and  open  her  ports  to  trading  countries  under 
the  guidance  and  encouragement  of  China.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  if  this  arrangement  had  been  carried  out,  the 
influence  and  the  position  of  China  in  Corea  would  have 
been  very  greatly  increased  and  strengthened.  But,  un- 
fortunately, the  policy  of  Li  Hung  Chang — for  if  he  did 
not  originate,  he  took  the  most  important  part  in  directing 
it — aroused  the  jealousy  of  Japan,  which  has  long  asserted 
the  right  to  have  an  equal  voice  with  China  in  the  control 
of  Cora  ,n  affairs ;  and  the  government  of  Tokio,  on  hearing 
of  the  Schufeldt  treaty,  at  once  took  steps  not  merely  to  ob- 
tain all  the  rights  to  be  conferred  by  that  document,  to  which 
no  one  would  have  objected,  but  also  to  assert  its  claim  to 
control  equally  with  China  the  policy  of  the  Corean  court. 
With  that  object,  a  Japanese  fleet  and  army  were  sent  to 
the  Seoul  River,  and  when  the  diplomatists  returned  for 
the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  they  found  the  Japanese  in 
a  strong  position  close  to  the  Corean  capital.  The  Chinese 
were  not  to  be  set  on  one  side  in  so  open  a  manner,  and  a 
powerful  fleet  of  gunboats,  with  5,000  troops,  were  sent  to 
the  Seoul  River  to  uphold  their  rights.  Under  other  cir- 
cumstances, more  especially  as  the  Chinese  expedition  was 
believed  to  be  the  superior,  a  hostile  collision  must  have  en- 
sued, and  the  war  which  has  so  often  seemed  near  between 
the  Chinese  and  Japanese  would  have  become  an  accom- 
plished fact ;  but  fortunately  the  presence  of  the  foreign  di- 
plomatists moderated  the  ardor  of  both  sides,  and  a  rupture 
was  averted.  By  a  stroke  of  judgment  the  Chinese  seized 
Tai  Wang  Kun,  the  father  of  the  young  king,  and  the  leader 
of  the  anti-foreign  party,  and  carried  him  off  to  Pekin,  where 
he  was  kept  in  imprisonment  for  some  time,  until  matters 
had  settled  down  in  his  own  country.  The  opening  of  Corea 
to  the  Treaty  Powers  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  old  rivalry 
of  China  and  Japan  in  that  country,  of  which  history  con- 
tains so  many  examples;  and,  before  the  Corean  question 
was  definitely  settled,  it  again  became  obtrusive.  Such  evi- 
dence as  is  obtainable  points  to  the  conclusion  that  Chinese 


492  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    GSBfA. 

influence  was  gradually  getting  the  better  of  Japanese  in  the 
country,  and  the  attack  on  the  Japanese  legation  in  1884 
was  a  striking  revelation  of  popular  antipathy  or  of  an  elab- 
orate an  ti- Japanese  plot  headed  by  the  released  Chinese 
prisoner,  Tai  Wang  Kun. 

At  the  opposite  point  of  the  frontier  China  was  brought 
face  to  face  with  a  danger  which  threatened  to  develop  into 
a  peril  of  the  first  magnitude,  and  in  meeting  which  she  was 
undoubtedly  hampered  by  her  treaties  with  the  general  body 
of  foreign  powers  and  her  own  peculiar  place  in  the  family 
of  nations.  It  is  the  special  misfortune  of  China  that  she 
cannot  engage  in  any,  even  a  defensive,  war  with  a  maritime 
power  without  incurring  the  grave  risk,  or  indeed  the  prac- 
tical certainty,  that  if  such  a  war  be  continued  for  any  length 
of  time  she  must  find  herself  involved  with  every  other  for- 
eign country  through  the  impossibility  of  confining  the  hostil- 
ity of  her  own  subjects  to  one  race  of  foreigners  in  particu- 
lar. In  considering  the  last  war  with  a  European  country 
in  which  China  was  engaged,  due  allowance  must  be  made 
for  these  facts,  and  also  for  the  anomalous  character  of  that 
contest,  when  active  hostilities  were  carried  on  without  any 
formal  declaration  of  war — a  state  of  things  which  gave  the 
French  many  advantages.  Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1883, 
the  French  government  came  to  the  decision  to  establish  a 
"  definite  protectorate* *  over  Tonquin.  Events  had  for  some 
time  been  shaping  themselves  in  this  direction,  and  the  colo- 
nial ambition  of  France  had  long  fixed  on  Indo-China  as  a 
field  in  which  it  might  aggrandize  itself  with  comparatively 
little  risk  and  a  wide  margin  of  advantage.  The  weakness 
of  the  kingdom  of  Ann  am  was  a  strong  enough  temptation 
in  itself  to  assert  the  protectorate  over  it  which  France  had, 
more  or  less,  claimed  for  forty  years ;  but  when  the  reports 
of  several  French  explorers  came  to  promote  the  conviction 
that  France  might  acquire  the  control  of  a  convenient  and 
perhaps  the  best  route  into  some  of  the  richest  provinces  of 
interior  China  without  much  difficulty,  the  temptation  be- 
came irresistible.     French  activity  in  Indo-China  was  height- 


THE  REIGN  OF  KWANQSV.  493 

ened  by  the  declaration  of  Garnier,  Rocher,  and  others,  that 
the  Songcoi,  or  Red  River,  furnished  the  best  means  of  com- 
municating with  Yunnan,  and  tapping  the  wealth  of  the  rich- 
est mineral  province  in  China.  The  apathy  of  England  in 
her  relations  with  Burmah,  which  presented,  under  its  arro- 
gant and  obstructive  rulers,  what  may  have  seemed  an  in- 
superable obstacle  to  trade  intercourse  between  India  and 
China,  afforded  additional  inducement  to  the  French  to  act 
quickly;  and,  as  they  felt  confident  of  their  ability  and  power 
to  coerce  the  court  of  Hue,  the  initial  difficulties  of  their  un- 
dertaking did  not  seem  very  formidable.  That  undertaking 
was,  in  the  first  place,  defined  to  be  a  protectorate  of  Annam, 
and,  as  the  first  step  in  the  enterprise,  the  town  of  Hanoi,  in 
the  delta  of  the  Red  River,  and  the  nominal  capital  of  Ton- 
quin,  was  captured  before  the  end  of  the  year  1882. 

Tonquin  stood  in  very  much  the  same  relationship  to 
China  as  Corea;  and,  although  the  enforcement  of  the  suze- 
rain tie  was  lax,  there  was  no  doubt  that  at  Pekin  the  opin- 
ion was  held  very  strongly  that  the  action  of  France  was  an 
encroachment  on  the  rights  of  China.  But  if  such  was  the 
secret  opinion  of  the  Chinese  authorities,  they  took  no  imme- 
diate steps  to  arrest  the  development  of  French  policy  in 
Tonquin  by  proclaiming  it  a  Chinese  dependency,  and  also 
their  intention  to  defend  it.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
the  prompt  and  vigorous  assertion  of  their  rights  would  have 
induced  the  French  to  withdraw  from  their  enterprise,  for 
its  difficulties  were  not  revealed  at  first;  but  if  China  is  to 
make  good  her  hold  over  such  dependencies,  she  must  be 
prepared  to  show  that  she  thinks  them  worth  fighting  for. 
While  Li  Hung  Chang  and  the  other  members  of  the  Chi- 
nese government  were  deliberating  as  to  the  course  they 
should  pursue,  the  French  were  acting  with  great  vigor  in 
,  Tonquin,  and  committing  their  military  reputation  to  a  task 
from  which  they  could  not  in  honor' draw  back.  During  the 
whole  of  the  year  1883  they  were  engaged  in  military  opera- 
tions with  the  Black  Flag  irregulars,  a  force  half  piratical 
and  half  patriotic,  who  represented  the  national  army  of  the 


494  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

country.  It  was  believed  at  the  time,  but  quite  erroneously, 
that  the  Black  Flags  were  paid  and  incited  by  the  Chinese. 
Subsequent  evidence  showed  that  the  Chinese  authorities  did 
not  taken  even  an  indirect  part  in  the  contest  until  a  much 
later  period.  After  the  capture  of  Hanoi,  the  French  were 
constantly  engaged  with  the  Black  Flags,  from  whom  they 
captured  the  important  town  of  Sontay,  which  was  reported 
to  be  held  by  imperial  Chinese  troops,  but  on  its  capture  this 
statement  was  found  to  be  untrue.  The  French  were  in  the 
full  belief  that  the  conquest  of  Tonquin  would  be  easily 
effected,  when  a  serious  reverse  obliged  them  to  realize  the 
gravity  of  their  task.  A  considerable  detachment,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Henri  Riviere,  who  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  French  enterprise  on  the  Songcoi,  was  surprised 
and  defeated  near  Hanoi.  Riviere  was  killed,  and  it  became 
necessary  to  make  a  great  effort  to  recover  the  ground  that 
had  been  lost.  Fresh  troops  were  sent  from  Europe,  but 
before  they  arrived  the  French  received  another  check  at 
Phukai,  which  the  Black  Flags  claimed  as  a  victory  because 
the  French  were  obliged  to  retreat. 

Before  this  happened  the  French  had  taken  extreme 
measures  against  the  King  of  Annam,  of  which  state  Ton- 
quin is  the  northern  province.  The  king  of  that  country, 
by  name  Tuduc,  who  had  become  submissive  to  the  French, 
died  in  July,  1883,  and  after  his  death  the  Annamese,  per- 
haps encouraged  by  the  difficulties  of  the  French  in  Tonquin, 
became  so  hostile  that  it  was  determined  to  read  them  a 
severe  lesson.  Hue  was  attacked  and  occupied  a  month 
after  the  death  of  Tuduc,  and  a  treaty  was  extracted  from 
the  new  king  which  made  him  the  dependent  of  France. 
When  the  cold  season  began  in  Tonquin,  the  French  forces 
largely  increased,  and,  commanded  by  Admiral  Courbet, 
renewed  operations,  and  on  December  11  attacked  the  main 
body  of  the  Black  Flags  at  Sontay,  which  they  had  reoccu- 
pied  and  strengthened.  They  offered  a  desperate  and  well 
sustained  resistance,  and  it  was  only  with  heavy  loss  that 
the  French  succeeded  in  carrying  the  town.     The  victors 


THE    REIGN   OF   KWANGSU.  495 

were  somewhat  recompensed  for  their  hardships  and  loss  by 
the  magnitude  of  the  spoil,  which  included  a  large  sum  of 
money.  Desultory  fighting  continued  without  intermission; 
Admiral  Courbet  was  superseded  by  General  Millot,  who 
determined  to  signalize  his  assumption  of  the  command  by 
attacking  Bacninh,  which  the  Black  Flags  made  their  head- 
quarters after  the  loss  of  Sontay.  On  March  8,  he  attacked 
this  place  at  the  head  of  12,000  men,  but  so  formidable  were 
its  defenses  that  he  would  not  risk  an  attack  in  front,  and  by 
a  circuitous  march  of  four  days  he  gained  the  flank  of  the 
position,  and  thus  taken  at  a  disadvantage  the  Black  Flags 
abandoned  their  formidable  lines,  and  retreated  without 
much  loss,  leaving  their  artillery,  including  some  Krupp 
guns,  in  the  hands  of  the  victors.  At  this  stage  of  the 
question  diplomacy  intervened,  and  on  May  11  a  treaty  of 
peace  was  signed  by  Commander  Founder,  during  the  min- 
istry of  M.  Jules  Ferry,  with  the  Chinese  government. 
One  of  the  principal  stipulations  of  this  treaty  was  that  the 
French  should  be  allowed  to  occupy  Langson  and  other 
places  in  Tonquin.  When  the  French  commander  sent 
a  force  under  Colonel  Dugenne  to  occupy  Langson  it  was 
opposed  in  the  Bacle  defile  and  repulsed  with  some  loss. 
The  Chinese  exonerated  themselves  from  all  responsibility 
by  declaring  that  the  French  advance  was  premature,  be- 
cause no  date  was  fixed  by  the  Fournier  Convention,  and 
because  there  had  not  been  time  to  transmit  the  necessary 
orders.  On  the  other  hand,  M.  Fournier  declared  on  his 
honor  that  the  dates  in  his  draft  were  named  in  the  original 
convention.  The  French  government  at  once  demanded  an 
apology,  and  an  indemnity  fixed  by  M.  Jules  Ferry,  in  a 
moment  of  mental  excitement,  at  the  ridiculous  figure  of 
$50,000,000.  An  apology  was  offered,  but  such  an  in- 
demnity was  refused,  and  eventually  France  obtained  one 
of  only  $800,000. 

After  the  Bacle  affair  hostilities  were  at  once  resumed, 
and  for  the  first  time  the  French  carried  them  on  not  only 
against  the  Black  Flags,  but  against  the  Chinese.     M.  Jules 


406  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

Ferry  did  not,  however,  make  any  formal  declaration  of  wa* 
against  China,  and  he  thus  gained  an  advantage  of  position 
for  his  attack  on  the  Chinese  which  it  was  not  creditable  to 
French  chivalry  to  have  asserted.  The  most  striking  in- 
stance of  this  occurred  at  Foochow,  where  the  French  fleet, 
as  representing  a  friendly  power,  was  at  anchor  above  the 
formidable  defenses  of  the  Min  River.  In  accordance  with 
instructions  telegraphed  to  him,  the  French  admiral  attacked 
those  places  in  reverse  and  destroyed  the  forts  on  the  Min 
without  much  difficulty  or  loss,  thanks  exclusively  to  his 
having  been  allowed  past  them  as  a  friend.  The  French 
also  endeavored  to  derive  all  possible  advantage  from  there 
being  no  formal  declaration  of  war,  and  to  make  use  of 
Hongkong  as  a  base  for  their  fleet  against  China.  But  this 
unfairness  could  not  be  tolerated,  and  the  British  minister  at 
Pekin,  where  Sir  Harry  Parkes  had  in  the  autumn  of  1883 
succeeded  Sir  Thomas  "Wade,  issued  a  proclamation  that  the 
hostilities  between  France  and  China  were  tantamount  to  a 
state  of  war,  and  that  the  laws  of  neutrality  must  be  strictly 
observed.  The  French  resented  this  step,  and  showed  some 
inclination  to  retaliate  by  instituting  a  right  to  search  for 
rice,  but  fortunately  this  pretension  was  not  pushed  to  ex- 
tremities, and  the  war  was  closed  before  it  could  produce 
any  serious  consequences.  The  French  devoted  much  of  their 
attention  to  an  attack  on  the  Chinese  possessions  in  Formosa, 
and  the  occupation  of  Kelung;  a  fort  in  the  northern  part  of 
that  island  was  captured,  but  the  subsequent  success  of  the 
French  was  small.  The  Chinese  displayed  great  energy  and 
resource  in  forming  defenses  against  any  advance  inland 
from  Kelung  or  Tamsui,  and  the  French  government  was 
brought  to  face  the  fact  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  gained 
by  carrying  on  these  desultory  operations,  and  that  unless 
they  were  prepared  to  send  a  large  expedition,  it  was  com- 
puted of  not  less  than  50,000  men,  to  attack  Pekin,  there 
was  no  alternative  to  coming  to  terms  with  China.  How 
strong  this  conviction  had  become  may  be  gathered  from  the 
fact  that  the  compulsory  retreat,    in  March,  1885,   of  the 


THE  REIGN  OF  KWANGSU.  *97 

French  from  before  Langson,  where  some  of  the  Chines© 
regular  troops  were  drawn  up  with  a  large  force  of  Black 
and  Yellow  Flags — the  latter  of  whom  were  in  Chinese  pay 
— did  not  imperil  the  negotiations  which  were  then  far  ad- 
vanced toward  completion.  On  June  9  of  the  same  year  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  by  M.  Patenotre  and  Li  Hung 
Chang  which  gave  France  nothing  more  than  the  Fournier 
Convention. 

The  military  lessons  of  this  war  must  be  pronounced  in- 
conclusive, for  the  new  forces  which  China  had  organized 
since  the  Pekin  campaign  were  never  fully  engaged,  and  the 
struggle  ended  before  the  regular  regiments  sent  to  Langson 
had  any  opportunity  of  showing  their  quality.  But  the  im- 
pression conveyed  by  the  fighting  in  Formosa  and  the  north- 
ern districts  of  Tonquin  was  that  China  had  made  consider- 
able progress  in  the  military  art,  and  that  she  possessed  the 
nucleus  of  an  army  that  might  become  formidable.  But 
while  the  soldiers  had  made  no  inconsiderable  improvement, 
as  much  could  not  be  said  of  the  officers,  and  among  the  com- 
manders there  seemed  no  grasp  of  the  situation,  and  a  com- 
plete inability  to  conduct  a  campaign.  Probably  these  defi- 
ciencies will  long  remain  the  really  weak  spot  in  the  Chinese 
war  organization,  and  although  they  have  men  who  will 
fight  well,  the  only  capacity  their  commanders  showed  in 
Tonquin  and  Formosa  was  in  selecting  strong  positions  and 
in  fortifying  them  with  consummate  art.  But  as  the  strong- 
est position  can  be  turned  and  avoided,  and  as  the  Chinese, 
like  all  Asiatics,  become  demoralized  when  their  rear  is 
threatened,  it  cannot  be  denied  that,  considerable  progress 
as  the  Chinese  have  made  in  the  military  art,  they  have  not 
yet  mastered  some  of  its  rudiments.  All  that  can  be  said 
is  that  the  war  between  France  and  China  was  calculated 
to  teach  the  advisability  of  caution  in  fixing  a  quarrel  upon 
China.  Under  some  special  difficulties  from  the  character 
of  the  war  and  with  divided  councils  at  Pekin,  the  Chinese 
still  gave  a  very  good  account  of  themselves  against  one  of 
the  greatest  powers  of  Europe. 


498  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

During  the  progress  of  this  struggle  a  coup  d'etat  was 
effected  at  Pekin  of  which  at  the  time  it  was  impossible  to 
measure  the  whole  significance.  In  July,  1884,  the  Chinese 
world  was  startled  by  the  sudden  fall  and  disgrace  of  Prince 
Kung,  who  had  been  the  most  powerful  man  in  China  since 
the  Treaty  of  Pekin.  A  decree  of  the  empress-regent  ap- 
peared dismissing  him  from  all  his  posts  and  consigning  him 
to  an  obscurity  from  which  after  nine  years  he  has  not  yet 
succeeded  in  emerging.  The  causes  of  his  fall  are  not  clear, 
but  they  were  probably  of  several  distinct  kinds.  While  he 
was  the  leader  of  the  peace  party  and  the  advocate  of  a 
prompt  arrangement  with  France,  he  was  also  an  opponent 
of  Prince  Chun's  desire  to  have  a  share  in  the  practical  ad- 
ministration of  the  state,  or,  at  least,  an  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  its  realization.  Prince  Chun,  who  was  a  man  of  an  im- 
perious will,  and  who,  on  the  death  of  the  Eastern  Empress, 
became  the  most  important  personage  in  the  palace  and  su- 
preme council  of  the  empire,  was  undoubtedly  the  leader 
of  the  attack  on  Prince  Kung,  and  the  immediate  cause  of 
his  downfall.  Prince  Kung,  who  was  an  amiable  and  well 
intentioned  man  rather  than  an  able  statesman,  yielded 
without  resistance,  and  indeed  he  had  no  alternative,  for  he 
had  no  following  at  Pekin,  and  his  influence  was  very  slight 
except  among  Europeans.  Prince  Chun  then  came  to  the 
front,  taking  an  active  and  prominent  part  in  the  govern- 
ment, making  himself  president  of  a  new  board  of  national 
defense  and  taking  up  the  command  of  the  Pekin  Field 
Force,  a  specially  trained  body  of  troops  for  the  defense  of  the 
capital.  He  retained  possession  of  these  posts  after  his  son 
assumed  the  government  in  person,  notwithstanding  the  law 
forbidding  a  father  serving  under  his  son,  which  has  already 
been  cited,  and  he  remained  the  real  controller  of  Chinese 
policy  until  his  sudden  and  unexpected  death  in  the  first 
days  of  1891.  Some  months  earlier,  in  April,  1890,  China 
had  suffered  a  great  loss  in  the  Marquis  Tseng,  whose  diplo- 
matic experience  and  knowledge  of  Europe  might  have  ren- 
dered his  rountrv  infinite  service  in  the  future.     He  was  the 


THE  REIGN  OF  KWANGSU.  499 

chosen  colleague  of  Prince  Chun,  and  he  is  said  to  have 
gained  the  ear  of  his  young  sovereign.  While  willing  to 
admit  the  superiority  of  European  inventions,  he  was  also 
an  implicit  believer  in  China's  destiny  and  in  her  firmly 
holding  her  place  among  the  greatest  powers  of  the  world. 
In  December,  1890,  also  died  Tseng  Kwo  Tsiuen,  uncle  of 
the  marquis,  and  a  man  who  had  taken  a  prominent  and 
honorable  part  in  the  suppression  of  the  Taeping  Rebellion. 
In  1885  an  important  and  delicate  negotiation  between 
England  and  China  was  brought  to  a  successful  issue  by  the 
joint  efforts  of  Lord  Salisbury  and  the  Marquis  Tseng.  The 
levy  of  the  lekin  or  barrier  tax  on  opium  had  led  to  many 
exactions  in  the  interior  which  were  injurious  to  the  foreign 
trade  and  also  to  the  Chinese  government,  which  obtained 
only  the  customs  duty  raised  in  the  port.  After  the  subject 
had  been  thoroughly  discussed  in  all  its  bearings  a  conven- 
tion was  signed  in  London,  on  July  19,  1885,  by  which  the 
lekin  was  fixed  at  eighty  taels  a  chest,  in  addition  to  the 
customs  due  of  thirty  taels,  and  also  that  the  whole  of  this 
sum  should  be  paid  in  the  treaty  port  before  the  opium  was 
taken  out  of  bond.  This  arrangement  was  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Chinese  government,  which  came  into 
possession  of  a  large  revenue  that  had  previously  been  frit- 
tered away  in  the  provinces,  and  much  of  which  had  gone 
into  the  pockets  of  the  mandarins.  This  subject  affords  the 
most  appropriate  place  for  calling  attention  to  the  conspic- 
uous services  rendered,  as  Director-general  of  Chinese  Cus- 
toms during  more  than  thirty  years,  by  Sir  Robert  Hart, 
who,  on  the  premature  death  of  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  was  ap- 
pointed British  Minister  at  Pekin,  which  post,  for  weighty 
reasons,  he  almost  immediately  resigned.  It  is  impossible 
to  measure  the  consequences  and  important  effect  of  his  con- 
duct and  personal  influence  upon  the  policy  and  opinion  of 
China,  while  his  work  in  the  interests  of  that  country  has 
been  both  strilqng  and  palpable.  To  his  efforts  the  central 
government  mainly  owes  its  large  and  increasing  cash  rev- 
enue, and  when  some  candid  Chinese  historian  sums  up  the 


500  .4    SHORT  HISTORY   OF   CHLSA. 

work  done  for  his  country  by  foreigners,  he  will  admit  that, 
what  Gordon  did  in  war  and  Macartney  in  diplomacy,  Hart 
accomplished  in  those  revenue  departments  which  are  an 
essential  element  of  strength,  and  we  must  hope  that  this 
truthful  chronicler  will  also  not  forget  to  record  that  all  these 
loyal  servants  were  English,  members  of  a  race  which,  after 
fighting  China  fairly,  frankly  held  out  the  hand  of  friend- 
ship and  alliance.  In  connection  with  this  subject  it  may 
be  noted  that  the  emperor  issued  an  edict  in  1890  formally 
legalizing  the  cultivation  of  opium,  which,  although  prac- 
tically carried  on,  was  nominally  illegal.  An  immediate 
consequence  of  this  step  was  a  great  increase  in  the  area 
under  cultivation,  particularly  in  Manchuria,  and  so  great 
is  the  production  of  native  opium  now  becoming  that  that  of 
India  may  yet  be  driven  from  the  field  as  a  practical  revenge 
for  the  loss  inflicted  on  China  by  the  competition  of  Indian 
tea.  But  at  all  events  these  measures  debar  China  from 
ever  again  posing  as  an  injured  party  in  the  matter  of  the 
opium  traffic.  She  has  very  rightly  determined  to  make  the 
best  of  the  situation  and  to  derive  all  the  profit  she  can  by 
taxing  an  article  in  such  very  general  use  and  consumption; 
but  there  is  an  end  to  all  representations  like  those  made  by 
prominent  officials  from  Commissioner  Lin  to  Prince  Kung 
and  Li  Hung  Chang,  that  the  opium  traffic  was  iniquitous, 
and  constituted  the  sole  cause  of  disagreement  between  China 
and  England. 

During  these  years  the  young  Emperor  Kwangsu  wai 
growing  up.  In  February,  1887,  in  which  month  falls  the 
Chinese  New  Year,  it  was  announced  that  his  marriage  was 
postponed  in  consequence  of  his  delicate  health,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  new  year  of  1889,  when  Kwangsu  was  well 
advanced  in  his  eighteenth  year,  that  he  was  married  to 
Yeh-ho-na-la,  daughter  of  a  Manchu  general  named  Knei 
Hsiang,  who  had  been  specially  selected  for  this  great  honor 
out  of  many  hundred  candidates.  The  marriage  was  cele- 
brated with  the  usual  state,  and  more  than  $5,000,000  is  said 
to  have  been  expended  on  the  attendant  ceremonies.     At  the 


THE   REIGN  OF  KWANGSU.  50fv 

same  time  the  empress-regent  issued  her  farewell  edict  and 
passed  into  retirement,  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  she 
continued  to  exercise  no  inconsiderable  influence  over  the 
young  emperor. 

The  marriage  and  assumption  of  governing  power  by  the 
Emperor  Kwangsu  brought  to  the  front  the  very  important 
question  of  the  right  of  audience  by  the  foreign  ministers 
resident  at  Pekin.  This  privilege  had  been  conceded  by 
China  at  the  time  of  the  Tientsin  massacre,  and  it  had  been 
put  into  force  on  one  occasion  during  the  brief  reign  of 
Tungche.  The  time  had  again  arrived  for  giving  it  effect, 
and,  after  long  discussions  as  to  the  place  of  audience  and 
the  forms  to  be  observed,  Kwangsu  issued  in  December, 
1890,  an  edict  appointing  a  day  soon  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Chinese  New  Year  for  the  audience,  and  also 
arranging  that  it  should  be  repeated  annually  on  the  same 
date.  In  March,  1891,  Kwangsu  gave  his  first  reception  to 
the  foreign  ministers,  but  after  it  was  over  some  criticism 
and  dissatisfaction  were  aroused  by  the  fact  that  the  cere- 
mony had  been  held  in  the  Tse  Kung  Ko,  or  Hall  of  Trib- 
utary Nations.  As  this  was  the  first  occasion  on  which 
Europeans  saw  the  young  emperor,  the  fact  that  he  made  a 
favorable  impression  on  them  is  not  without  interest,  and 
the  following  personal  description  of  the  master  of  so  many 
millions  may  well  be  quoted.  "Whatever  the  impression 
'the  Barbarians'  made  on  him  the  idea  which  they  carried 
away  of  the  Emperor  Kwangsu  was  pleasing  and  almost 
pathetic.  His  air  is  one  of  exceeding  intelligence  and  gen- 
tleness, somewhat  frightened  und  melancholy  looking.  His 
face  is  pale,  and  though  it  is  distinguished  by  refinement  and 
quiet  dignity  it  has  none  of  the  force  of  his  martial  ancestors, 
nothing  commanding  or  imperial,  but  is  altogether  mild, 
delicate,  sad  and  kind.  He  is  essentially  Manchu  in  feat- 
ures, his  skin  is  strangely  pallid  in  hue,  which  is,  no  doubt, 
accounted  for  by  the  confinement  of  his  life  inside  these  for- 
bidding walls  and  the  absence  of  the  ordinary  pleasures  and 
pursuits  of  youth,  with  the  constant  discharge  of  onerous, 


502  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

complicated  and  difficult  duties  of  state  which,  it  must  be 
remembered,  are,  according  to  imperial  Chinese  etiquette, 
mostly  transacted  between  the  hours  of  two  and  six  in  the 
morning.  His  face  is  oval  shaped  with  a  very  long  narrow 
chin  and  a  sensitive  mouth  with  thin,  nervous  lips ;  his  nose 
is  well  shaped  and  straight,  his  eyebrows  regular  and  very 
arched,  while  the  eyes  are  unusually  large  and  sorrowful  in 
expression.  The  forehead  is  well  shaped  and  broad,  and  the 
head  is  large  beyond  the  average." 

Owing  to  the  dissatisfaction  felt  at  the  place  of  audience, 
which  seemed  to  put  the  Tpeaty  Powers  on  the  same  footing 
as  tributary  states,  the  foreign  ministers  have  endeavored  to 
force  from  the  Tsungli  Yamen  the  formal  admission  that  a 
more  appropriate  part  of  the  imperial  city  should  be  assigned 
for  the  ceremony;  but  as  the  powers  themselves  were  not 
disposed  to  lay  too  much  stress  on  this  point,  no  definite  con- 
cession has  yet  been  made,  and  the  Chinese  ministers  have 
held  out  against  the  pressure  of  some  of  the  foreign  repre- 
sentatives. But,  although  no  concise  alteration  has  been 
made  in  the  place  of  audience,  the  question  has  been  practi- 
cally settled  by  a  courteous  concession  to  the  new  English 
minister,  Mr.  O'Conor,  who  succeeded  Sir  John  Walsham 
in  1892,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  feel  that  this  advantage  was 
gained  more  by  tact  than  by  coercion.  "When  Mr.  O'Conor 
wished  to  present  his  credentials  to  the  emperor,  it  was  ar- 
ranged that  the  emperor  should  receive  him  in  the  Cheng 
Kuan  Tien  Palace,  which  is  part  of  the  imperial  residence  of 
Peace  and  Plenty  within  the  Forbidden  City.  The  British 
representative,  accompanied  by  his  secretaries  and  suite  in 
accordance  with  arrangement,  proceeded  to  this  palace  on 
December  13,  1892,  and  was  received  in  a  specially  honor- 
able way  at  the  principal  or  imperial  entrance  by  the  officials 
of  the  court.  Such  a  mark  of  distinction  was  considered 
quite  unique  in  the  annals  of  foreign  diplomacy  in  China, 
and  has  since  been  a  standing  grievance  with  the  other  min- 
isters at  Pekin.  It  was  noticed  by  those  present  that  the 
emperor  took  a  much  greater  interest  in  the  ceremony  than 


THE   REIGN   OF  KWANGSU.  60S 

on  previous  occasions,  and  that  he  showed  special  attention 
as  Prince  Ching,  the  President  of  the  Yamen,  translated  the 
letter  from  Queen  Victoria.  This  audience,  which  lasted  a 
considerable  time,  was  certainly  the  most  satisfactory  and 
encouraging  yet  held  with  the  Emperor  Kwangsu  by  any 
foreign  envoy,  and  it  also  afforded  opportunity  of  confirming 
the  favorable  impression  which  the  intelligence  and  dignified 
demeanor  of  the  Emperor  Kwangsu  have  made  on  all  who 
have  had  the  honor  of  coming  into  his  presence.  One  inci- 
dent in  the  progress  of  the  audience  question  deserves  notice, 
and  that  was  the  emperor's  refusal,  in  1891,  to  receive  Mr. 
Blair,  the  United  States  Minister,  in  consequence  of  the  hos- 
tile legislation  of  that  country  against  China.  The  anti- 
foreign  outbreak  along  the  Yangtsekiang,  in  the  summer 
of  1891,  was  an  unpleasant  incident,  from  which  at  one  time 
it  looked  as  if  serious  consequences  might  follow;  but  the 
ebullition  fortunately  passed  away  without  an  international 
crisis,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  improved  means  of  exer- 
cising diplomatic  pressure  at  Pekin  will  render  these  attacks 
less  frequent,  and  their  settlement  and  redress  more  rapid. 
During  the  last  ten  years  events  in  Central  Asia  and 
Burmah  have  drawn  England  and  China  much  more  closely 
together,  and  have  laid  the  basis  of  what  it  must  be  hoped 
will  prove  a  firm  and  durable  alliance.  If  suspicion  was  laid 
aside  and  candid  relations  established  on  the  frontier,  it 
should  not  be  difficult  to  maintain  an  excellent  understand- 
ing with  China,  and  at  the  present  moment  every  diffi- 
culty has  been  smoothed  over  with  the  exception  of  that  on 
the  Burmese  frontier.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  not  less  success 
will  be  obtained  in  this  quarter  than  in  Sikhim  and  Hunza, 
and  Mr.  O'Conor's  convention  of  Pekin  in  July,  1886,  recog- 
nizing China's  right  to  receive  a  tribute  mission  from  Bur 
mah  once  in  ten  years  went  far  to  prove  the  extent  of  con- 
cession England  would  make  to  China.  It  is  divulging  what 
cannot  long  be  kept  secret,  to  explain  the  circumstances 
under  which  Mr.  O'Conor's  convention  was  signed,  and  the 
unusual  concession  made  by  a  British  government  of  admit- 


504  A   SHOR7    HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

ting  its  liability  to  send  a  tribute  mission.  The  Chefoo  Con- 
vention, closing  the  Yunnan  incident,  contained  a  promise 
from  the  Chinese  government  to  allow  an  English  mission 
to  pass  through  Tibet.  Years  passed  without  any  attempt 
to  give  effect  to  this  stipulation,  but  at  last,  in  1884,  Mr. 
Colman  Macaulay,  a  member  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service, 
obtained  the  assent  of  his  government  to  requesting  the  per- 
mission of  the  Chinese  government  to  visit  Lhasa.  He  went 
to  Pekin  and  he  came  to  London,  and  he  obtained  the  nec- 
essary permission  and  the  formal  passport  of  the  Tsungli 
Yamen;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  if  he  had  set  off  for  Tibet 
with  a  small  party,  he  would  have  been  honorably  received 
and  passed  safely  through  Tibet  to  India.  On  the  other 
hand  there  is  no  doubt  that  such  a  visit  would  have  pre- 
sented no  feature  of  special  or  striking  importance.  It  would 
have  been  an  interesting  individual  experience,  but  scarcely 
an  international  landmark.  This  modest  character  for  his 
long-cherished  project  did  not  suit  Mr.  Macaulay,  and  un- 
mindful of  the  adage  that  there  may  be  a  slip  betwixt  the  cup 
and  the  lip,  he  not  merely  delayed  the  execution  of  his  visit, 
but  he  made  ostentatious  preparations  for  an  elaborate  mis- 
sion, and  he  engaged  many  persons  with  scientific  qualifica- 
tions to  accompany  him,  with  the  view  of  examining  the 
mineral  resources  of  Tibet.  The  Chinese  themselves  did  not 
like,  and  had  never  contemplated,  such  a  mission,  but  their 
dissatisfaction  was  slight  in  comparison  with  the  storm  it 
raised  in  Tibet;  and  the  Chinese  government  was  thus 
brought  face  to  face  with  a  position  in  which  it  must  either 
employ  its  military  power  to  coerce  the  Tibetans,  who  made 
preparations  to  oppose  the  Macaulay  mission  by  force  of 
arms,  or  acquiesce  in  the  Tibetans  ignoring  its  official  pass- 
ports, and  thus  provoke  a  serious  complication  with  ihis 
country.  Such  was  the  position  of  the  Tibetan  question 
when  Burmah  was  annexed  in  January,  1886,  and  negotia- 
tions followed  with  China  for  the  adjustment  of  her  claims 
in  the  country.  Negotiations  were  carried  on,  in  the  first 
place  by  Lord  Salisbury,  and  in  the  second  by  Lord  Rose- 


THE   REIGN  OF  KWANOSU.  605 

bery,  with  the  Chinese  minister  in  London,  and  the  draft  of 
more  than  one  convention  was  prepared.  Among  such  con- 
templated arrangements  were  the  dispatch  of  a  mission  from 
Burmah  to  China,  and  of  a  return  one  from  China;  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  Head  Priest  of  Mandalay  as  the  person  to 
send  the  mission,  thus  making  it  a  purely  native  matter, 
outside  the  participation  of  the  British  government ;  and  the 
concession  of  material  advantages  on  the  Irrawaddy  and  in 
the  Shan  country,  as  the  equivalent  for  the  surrender  of  the 
tribute.  It  is  probable  that  one  of  these  three  arrangements 
would  have  been  carried  out,  but  that,  on  certain  points 
being  referred  to  Pekin,  the  knowledge  came  to  the  ears 
of  the  British  government  that  if  the  Tibetan  mission  were 
withdrawn,  the  Chinese  would  be  content  with  the  formal 
admission  of  their  claim  to  receive  the  tribute  mission  from 
Burmah  in  accordance  with  established  usage.  As  both 
governments  wanted  a  speedy  settlement  of  the  question, 
the  Chinese,  with  the  view  of  allaying  the  rising  agitation 
in  Tibet  and  getting  rid  of  a  troublesome  question,  and  the 
English  not  less  anxious  to  have  the  claims  of  China  in  Bur- 
mah defined  in  diplomatic  language,  the  convention  which 
bears  Mr.  O'Conor's  name  was  drawn  up  and  signed  with 
quite  remarkable  dispatch.  For  the  abandonment  of  the 
Macaulay  mission,  and  the  recognition  of  their  right  to  re- 
ceive the  tribute  mission  from  Burmah,  the  authorities  at 
Pekin  were  quite,  at  the  moment,  willing  to  forego  material 
claims  such  as  a  port  on  the  Irrawaddy.  Diplomacy  has 
not  yet  said  the  last  word  on  this  matter,  and  the  exact  fron- 
tier between  Burmah  and  China  has  still  to  be  delimited, 
but  the  fixing  of  a  definite  date  for  the  dispatch  of  the  first 
mission  from  Mandalay  to  Pekin,  which  is  timed  to  set  out 
in  January,  1894,  is  in  itself  of  hopeful  augury  for  the  settle- 
ment of  all  difficulties.  When  this  matter  is  composed  there 
will  be  no  cloud  in  the  sky  of  Anglo-Chines©  relations,  and 
that  such  an  auspicious  result  will  be  obtained  is  not  open 
to  serious  doubt.  The  most  gratifying  fact  in  the  history 
of  China  during  the  last  ten  years  is  the  increasing  sym- 


506  A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

pathy  and  tacit  understanding  between  the  two  great  em- 
pires of  England  and  China  in  Asia,  which  must  in  time 
constitute  an  effective  alliance  against  any  common  danger 
in  that  continent,  and  the  aggressive  policy  of  Russia. 


THE  WAR  WITH  JAPAN  AND  SUBSEQUENT 

EVENTS 

We  have  seen  that,  up  to  1892,  it  had  been  customary  to 
receive  the  representatives  of  foreign  powers  in  the  Tse  Kung 
Ko,  or  Hall  of  Tributary  Nations.  Naturally,  much  dissat- 
isfaction was  provoked  by  the  selection  of  a  place  of  audience 
which  seemed  to  put  the  treaty  powers  on  the  same  footing 
as  tributary  states,  and,  accordingly,  the  foreign  ministers 
undertook  to  exact  from  the  Tsungli  Yamen,  or  Board  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  the  designation  of  a  more  suitable  locality 
in  the  imperial  city  for  the  annual  ceremony.  The  proposed 
innovation  was  resisted  for  some  time ;  but  when  Sir  Nicolas 
O'Conor  was  appointed  British  Minister  at  Pekin,  an  ex- 
ception was  made  in  his  favor,  and  a  place  of  superior  im- 
portance to  the  Hall  of  Tributary  Nations  was  chosen  for 
the  presentation  of  his  credentials.  The  Emperor  Kwangsu 
agreed  to  receive  him  in  the  Cheng  Kuan  Tien  Palace,  or 
pavilion  which  forms  part  of  the  imperial  residence  of  Peace 
and  Plenty  within  the  Forbidden  City.  In  pursuance  of  this 
arrangement,  the  British  representative,  attended  by  his  suite, 
proceeded  to  this  pavilion  on  December  13,  1892,  and  was  re- 
ceived at  the  principal  entrance  by  the  high  court  officials.  It 
was  also  noted  that  the  emperor  took  a  greater  interest  in  the 
ceremonv  than  on  preceding  occasions,  and  followed  with  at- 
tention the  reading  of  Queen  Victoria's  letter,  by  Prince 
Ching,  then  president  of  the  Tsungli  Yamen.  Thenceforth, 
there  was  observed  with  every  year  a  decided  improvement 
in  the  mode  of  receiving  foreign  diplomatists,  and,  event- 
ually, the  imperial  audience  was  supplemented  with  an  an* 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN  AND  SUBSEQUENT  EVENTS.      507 

nual  dinner  given  by  the  Board  for  Foreign  Affairs.  Through 
the  personal  reception  accorded  by  the  Emperor  of  China  to 
Prince  Henry  of  Prussia  on  May  15, 1898,  the  audience  ques- 
tion was  finally  settled  in  favor  of  the  right  of  foreign  poten- 
tates to  rank  on  an  equality  with  the  so-called  Son  of  Heaven. 
We  come  now  to  the  most  memorable  event  in  the  modern 
history  of  China  since  the  Taeping  Rebellion ;  to  wit,  the  war 
with  Japan.  In  order  to  comprehend,  however,  the  causes 
of  this  contest  between  the  two  chief  races  of  the  J£ar  East, 
it  is  necessary  to  review  the  development  of  the  Corean 
question  which  gave  rise  to  it.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt 
that  Japan  derived  its  first  civilizing  settlers,  and  most  of 
its  arts  and  industries,  from  the  Corean  peninsula.  It  is 
certain  that,  for  centuries,  the  intercourse  between  the  two 
countries  was  very  close,  and  that  more  than  one  attempt 
was  made  by  Japanese  rulers  to  subjugate  Corea.  The  lat- 
est and  most  strenuous  endeavor  to  that  end  was  made  near 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and,  although  it  resulted 
in  a  temporary  occupation  of  the  peninsula,  the  Japanese 
troops  were  eventually  withdrawn,  and  Corea  resumed  its 
former  status  of  a  kingdom  tributary  to  the  Celestial  Em- 
pire. Thenceforth,  for  almost  three  centuries,  Corea  and 
Tonquin  bore,  in  theory,  precisely  the  same  relation  to  the 
Middle  Kingdom.  In  each  instance,  the  practical  question 
was  whether  China  was  strong  enough  to  make  good  her 
nominal  rights.  The  outcome  of  her  resistance  to  French 
aggression  in  Tonquin  had  shown  that  there,  at  least,  she 
had  no  such  power.  But,  in  the  subsequent  ten  years,  efforts 
had  been  made  to  organize  an  efficient  army  and  navy,  and 
the  belief  was  entertained  at  Pekin  that  China  was  at  all 
events  strong  enough  to  uphold  her  claims  in  Corea,  which 
was,  geographically  and  strategically,  of  far  more  impor- 
tance to  the  Middle  Kingdom  than  was  Tonquin.  Yet, 
while  it  was  evident  that  Corea  would  not  be  renounced 
without  a  struggle,  the  Pekin  authorities,  for  some  years, 
met  the  Japanese  encroachments  with  a  weak  and  vacillat- 
ing policy.     As  early  as  1876,  the  Mikado's  advisers  entered 


308  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

on  a  course  which  obviously  aimed  at  the  attainment  of  com 
mercial,  if  not,  also,  political,  ascendency  in  the  Hermit 
Kingdom.  An  outrage  having  been  committed  upon  some 
of  her  sailors,  Japan  obtained,  by  way  of  reparation  from 
the  court  of  Seoul,  the  opening  of  the  port  of  Fushan  to  her 
trade.  Four  years  later,  Chemulpo,  the  port  of  Seoul,  was 
also  opened.  These  forward  steps  on  the  part  of  the  Japa- 
nese aroused  the  Chinese  to  activity,  and,  in  1881,  a  draft 
commercial  treaty  was  prepared  by  the  Chinese  authorities 
in  council  with  the  representatives  of  the  principal  powers 
at  Pekin,  and  sent  to  Seoul,  where  it  was  accepted.  The 
Japanese  alleged,  however,  that  they  possessed  a  historical 
right  to  an  equal  voice  with  China  in  the  Corean  peninsula, 
and  that,  consequently,  the  treaty  to  which  we  have  just 
referred  required  their  ratification.  To  sustain  this  claim, 
the  Japanese  allied  themselves  with  the  Progressive  party 
in  Corea,  a  move  which  compelled  the  Chinese  to  lean  upon 
the  Reactionists,  who  were  opposed  to  the  concessions  lately 
made  to  foreigners,  and  who,  as  events  were  to  show,  were 
preponderant  in  the  Hermit  Kingdom.  In  June,  1882,  the 
Corean  Reactionists  attacked  the  Japanese  Legation  at  Seoul, 
murdered  some  members  of  it,  and  compelled  the  survivors 
to  flee  to  the  seacoast.  Thereupon,  the  Mikado  sent  some 
troops  to  exact  reparation,  and  the  Chinese,  on  their  part, 
dispatched  a  force  to  restore  order.  A  compromise  was 
brought  about,  and,  for  two  years,  Japanese  and  Chinese 
soldiers  remained  encamped  beside  one  another  under  the 
walls  of  the  Corean  capital.  In  December,  1884,  however, 
a  second  collision  occurred  between  the  Japanese  and  the 
Coreans,  the  latter  being,  this  time,  assisted  by  the  Chi- 
nese. The  Mikado's  subjects  were  again  compelled  to  take 
to  flight.  The  Tokio  government  now  resolved  upon  firm 
measures,  and,  while  it  exacted  compensation  from  the  Co- 
reans, it  sent  Count  Ito  Hirobumi  to  China  to  bring  about 
an  accommodation  with  the  Pekin  government.  At  that 
conjuncture,  there  is  no  doubt  that  China  possessed  advan- 
tages in  the  Corean  peninsula  that  were  lacking  to  the  Japa- 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN  AND  SUBSEQUENT  EVENTS.      509 

nese.  Not  only  was  she  popular  with  the  majority  of  the 
people,  but  the  treaty  powers  were  more  disposed  to  act 
through  her  than  through  Japan  in  order  to  secure  the  gen- 
eral extension  of  trade  with  the  Hermit  Kingdom.  Those 
advantages,  nevertheless,  were  thrown  away  by  an  agree- 
ment which  the  shortsighted  advisers  of  the  Chinese  emperor 
were  persuaded  to  accept.  La  Hung  Chang  was  appointed 
the  Chinese  Plenipotentiary  to  negotiate  with  Count  Ito, 
and,  after  a  short  conference,  a  convention  was  signed  at 
Tientsin  on  April  18,  1885.  The  provisions  of  the  conven- 
tion were,  first,  that  both  countries  should  withdraw  their 
troops  from  Corea;  secondly,  that  no  more  officers  should 
be  sent  by  either  country  to  drill  the  Corean  army;  and, 
thirdly,  that  if,  at  any  future  time,  either  of  the  two  coun- 
tries should  send  troops  tc  Corea,  it  must  inform  the  other. 
It  is  manifest  that,  by  this  agreement,  China,  practically, 
acquiesced  in  Japan's  assertion  of  ar  equal  right  to  control 
the  Hermit  Kingdom.  Thenceforth,  it  was  impossible  to 
speak  of  Corea  as  being  a  vassal  state  of  the  Celestial  Em- 
pire. 

For  some  nine  years,  nevertheless,  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  Tientsin  agreement,  there  were  no  dangerous  disturb- 
ances in  the  Peninsular  Kingdom.  In  the  early  part  of  1894, 
however,  Kim-Ok-Kiun,  a  reformer,  and  the  leader  of  the 
Corean  uprising  in  1884,  was  assassinated  at  Shanghai,  and 
it  subsequently  transpired  that  the  murder  had  been  com- 
mitted by  the  order  of  the  Corean  authorities.  It  is  certain 
that  honors  and  rewards  were  bestowed  upon  the  assassin 
on  his  return  to  the  Hermit  Kingdom,  while  the  body  of  his 
victim  was  drawn  and  quartered  as  that  of  a  traitor.  Just 
at  this  iuncture,  the  Tonghaks,  a  body  of  religious  reform- 
ers, having  failed  to  obtain  certain  concessions,  revolted, 
and,  by  the  end  of  May,  achieved  so  much  success  over  the 
Corean  forces  that  the  Seoul  government  became  alarmed, 
and  sent  to  China  for  assistance.  In  response  to  the  request, 
some  two  thousand  Chinese  troops  were  disembarked  on  June 
10  at  Asari,  a  seaport  some  distance  south  of  the  Corean  capir 


510  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

tal,  and  a  few  Chinese  men-of-war  were  dispatched  to  the 
coast  of  the  peninsula.  Formal  notice  of  these  proceedings 
was  given  to  Japan  under  the  terms  of  the  Tientsin  Conven- 
tion. Thereupon,  the  Mikado's  government  decided  to  un- 
dertake a  like  interposition,  and  acted  with  so  much  energy 
that,  within  forty-eight  hours  after  the  arrival  of  the  Chi- 
nese at  Asan,  they  had  placed  at  Seoul  a  much  superior 
force.  They  were  thus  able  to  dominate  the  court,  although 
it  was  in  entire  sympathy  with  China.  The  Pekin  govern- 
ment  now  made  the  mistake  of  reviving  its  pretensions  to 
regard  the  Hermit  Kingdom  as  a  vassal  state.  These  pre- 
tensions Japan  refused  to  tolerate,  on  the  ground,  first,  that 
she  had  never  admitted  them,  and,  secondly,  that  the  Tien- 
tsin Convention  recognized  an  equality  of  rights  in  the  two 
states.  The  Japanese  also  called  attention  to  the  misrule 
that  prevailed  in  Corea,  and  proposed  that  the  Chinese  should 
join  them  in  carrying  out  needful  reforms.  To  this  proposal, 
China  could  not  accede,  being  hampered  by  her  alliance  with 
the  reactionary  party  at  Seoul ;  consequently,  Japan  under- 
took the  execution  of  the  task  alone.  As  a  first  step  in  that 
direction,  the  Japanese  got  possession  of  the  person  of  the 
Corean  ruler,  and  compelled  him  to  act  as  the  instrument  of 
his  captors.  The  initial  document  which  he  was  constrained 
to  sign  was  an  order  that  the  Chinese  troops,  who  had  come 
at  his  invitation,  should  leave  the  country.  The  seizure  of 
the  king's  person,  which  occurred  on  July  23,  1894,  was  fol- 
lowed by  two  successful  acts  of  aggression.  On  the  25th, 
the  Japanese  squadron  attacked  the  Chinese  transport 
"Kowshing,"  conveying  fresh  soldiers  to  Asan,  and  its 
escort  of  warships.  In  the  engagement,  one  Chinese  man- 
of-war  was  sunk,  one  was  disabled,  and  1,200  soldiers  were 
destroyed  on  the  "Kowshing,"  which  was  torpedoed.  On 
July  29,  the  Japanese  general  Oshima,  at  the  head  of  a 
small  force,  made  a  night  attack  upon  the  Chinese  fortified 
camp  at  Song  Hwang,  and  carried  the  place  with  a  loss  to 
their  opponents  of  500  killed  and  wounded.  These  prelimi- 
nary encounters  were  followed  by  a  declaration  of  war  on 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN  AND  SUBSEQUENT  EVENTS.      511 

August  1,  1894.  During  the  ensuing  six  weeks,  Japan 
poured  her  troops  into  the  peninsula,  while  the  Chinese 
fleet,  instead  of  harassing  the  enemy,  remained  in  the 
harbors  of  Port  Arthur  and  Wei-hai-Wei.  On  September 
15,  the  Japanese  army  in  Corea  was  strong  enough  to  de- 
tach a  corps  of  14,000  men  to  attack  the  Chinese  position 
at  Pingyang,  a  town  on  the  northern  banks  of  the  Paidong 
River.  The  passage  of  the  river  was  difficult,  and  the  Chi- 
nese might  have  overwhelmed  the  Japanese  when  crossing 
it,  but  they  took  no  measures  to  this  end,  and  the  battle  be- 
gan at  sunrise  on  the  day  just  named.  There  were  five  forts 
to  be  captured,  and  some  of  them  were  vigorously  defended, 
nor  was  it  until  night  set  in  that  the  garrison  finally  deter- 
mined upon  evacuating  the  place.  In  the  battle  itself  and 
the  retreat,  over  2,000  Chinese  were  killed,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  wounded  and  the  prisoners.  The  Japanese  themselves 
lost  162  killed,  438  wounded  and  33  missing,  and  there  seems 
to  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  had  all  the  Chinese  officers 
been  capable  of  the  valor  displayed  by  the  general  Tso-pao- 
kuei,  the  Japanese  would  have  been  repulsed.  As  it  was, 
the  battle  proved  decisive,  for  not  a  Chinaman  paused  until 
he  had  reached  the  other  side  of  the  Yalu  River,  which  forms 
the  northwest  boundary  of  Corea. 

On  the  very  day  of  the  fight  at  Pingyang,  a  number  of 
Chinese  war  vessels,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Ting, 
were  transporting  troops  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yalu,  where 
the  Chinese  were  assembling  a  second  army.  On  its  return 
from  this  task,  it  was  encountered,  September  17,  off  the 
island  of  Haiyang,  by  a  Japanese  squadron  under  Admiral 
Ito.  Ostensibly,  the  two  fleets  were  evenly  matched.  They 
each  numbered  ten  fighting  vessels,  and,  if  two  of  the  Chi- 
nese ships  possessed  a  more  powerful  armament,  the  Japa- 
nese were  superior  in  steam  power.  It  was  to  quickness  in 
maneuvering  that  the  Japanese  admiral  trusted  for  victory, 
and  his  first  attack  consisted  mainly  in  circling  around  the 
Chinese  squadron.  He  was  careful,  also,  to  reserve  his  fire 
until  only  two  miles  separated  him  from  his  adversaries. 


§1^  A    SHORT  HISTORY   OF  CHINA. 

After  a  duel  with  the  Japanese  "Matsushima,"  the  Chi* 
nese  flagship  "Tingyuen"  was  severely  damaged,  and  only 
saved  from  sinking  by  the  intervention  of  her  sister  ship,  the 
"Chenyuen."  These  two  ironclads,  together  with  the  tor- 
pedo boats,  succeeded  in  making  their  escape,  but  five  of 
the  Chinese  vessels  were  sunk  or  destroyed.  In  men,  the 
Chinese  lost  700  killed  or  drowned  and  300  wounded,  while 
the  Japanese  lost  115  killed  and  150  wounded.  The  result 
of  this  victory  was  that  the  Chinese  never  afterward  at- 
tempted to  dispute  the  control  of  the  sea,  and  their  water 
communication  with  the  Yalu  was  effectually  cut  off. 

After  the  battle  of  Pingyang,  the  Japanese  army  halted, 
and  it  was  not  until  after  they  received  re-enforcements 
under  Marshal  Tamagata  that  they  resumed  their  forward 
movement.  On  October  10  their  advance  guard  reached  the 
Yalu,  a  river  broad  and  difficult  of  passage,  behind  which 
vas  stationed  a  considerable  Chinese  army,  which,  however, 
after  a  nominal  resistance,  soon  retreated.  In  the  aban- 
doned positions  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Yalu,  the  Jap- 
anese captured  a  vast  quantity  of  material  of  war,  includ- 
ing 74  cannons,  over  4,000  rifles,  and  more  than  4,000,000 
rounds  of  ammunition.  It  was  supposed  that  the  retreating 
Chinese  force  would  make  a  stand  at  Feng  Hwang,  but,  on 
reaching  that  town,  October  30,  the  Japanese  found  it  evac- 
uated, and  were  informed  that  the  Chinese  soldiers  had 
dispersed. 

While  Marshal  Yamagata  was  beginning  the  invasion  of 
China  from  the  direction  of  Corea,  another  Japanese  army, 
under  Marshal  Oyama,  had  landed  on  the  Liau-Tung,  or 
Regent's  Sword  Peninsula,  with  the  aim  of  capturing  the 
Chinese  naval  station  of  Port  Arthur.  Even  in  Chinese 
hands,  this  was.a  redoubtable  stronghold.  It  had  300  guns 
in  position,  and  the  garrison  numbered  some  10,000  men, 
while  the  attacking  force  did  not  exceed  13,000,  although 
we  should  bear  in  mind  that  it  was  aided  by  the  Japanese 
fleet.  After  landing  at  the  mouth  of  the  HuhuaY 
River,  about  100  miles  north  of  Port  Arthur,  the  Japanese 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN  AND  SUBSEQUENT  EVENTS.      513 

advanced  south,  and  took  the  fortified  city  of  Chinchow, 
without  incurring  any  loss.  The  next  day  they  reached 
Talienwan,  where  the  Chinese  had  five  heavily  armed  bat- 
teries, and  a  considerable  garrison,  which,  however,  on  the 
approach  of  the  enemy,  abandoned  the  post  without  firing 
a  shot.  In  the  forts  at  this  point  were  found  over  120  can- 
nons, two  and  a  half  million  rounds  of  ammunition  for  the 
artillery  and  nearly  34,000,000  rifle  cartridges.  On  Novem- 
ber 20,  1894,  the  Japanese  army  was  drawn  up  in  front  of 
Port  Arthur,  and  the  fleet  prepared  to  co-operate  in  the 
action.  The  attack  began  in  the  morning  of  November  22, 
and,  although,  in  one  quarter,  the  Chinese  offered  sturdy 
resistance,  yet,  by  the  end  of  the  day,  with  the  loss  of  no 
more  than  18  men  killed  and  250  wounded,  the  Japanese 
were  in  possession  of  the  strongest  position  in  China,  a  naval 
fortress  and  arsenal  on  which  $30,000,000  had  been  spent. 

Throughout  December  the  force  under  Marshal  Yama- 
gata  pushed  forward  into  Manchuria,  but  met  there  with 
more  vigorous  opposition  than  it  had  hitherto  encountered. 
In  the  fight  at  Kangwasai,  the  Japanese  lost  400,  and,  in 
the  capture  of  the  town  of  Kaiting,  300  killed  and  wounded. 
About  the  middle  of  January,  1895,  the  Japanese  began  op- 
erations against  Wei-hai-Wei,  the  naval  stronghold  on  the 
northern  coast  of  Shangtung,  in  which  the  remnant  of 
China's  fleet  had  taken  refuge.  Although  not  so  strong  as 
Port  Arthur,  this  harbor  is  considered  one  of  the  keys  to  the 
Gulf  of  Pechihli.  On  January  20  the  Japanese  troops  be- 
gan to  land  at  Yungchang,  a  little  west  of  the  point  to  be 
attacked,  and,  on  the  26th,  they  appeared  at  the  gates  of 
Wei-hai-Wei.  About  half  of  the  beleaguered  garrison  con- 
sisted of  4,000  sailors  from  the  fleet,  under  Admiral  Ting, 
who  was  to  show  himself  a  leader  of  courage  and  energy. 
The  assault  on  the  land  side  of  "Wei-hai-Wei  began  on  Jan- 
uary 29,  and  continued  throughout  that  and  the  following 
day.  At  certain  points,  where  Admiral  Ting's  squadron 
was  able  to  act  with  effect,  the  Japanese  were  repulsed, 
but,  eventually,  the  whole  of  the  land  garrison  fled  panic- 


614  A    SHORT  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

stricken  to  Chefoo.  Even  then  Ting's  squadron  and  the 
island  force  continued  to  resist,  and  it  was  not  until  Febru- 
ary 9,  when  almost  all  the  vessels  had  been  taken  or  sunk, 
that  he  consented  to  capitulate,  after  receiving  a  telegram 
from  Li  Hung  Chang  to  the  effect  that  no  help  could  be 
given  him.  No  sooner  were  the  terms  of  capitulation  agreed 
upon  than  Admiral  Ting  retired  to  his  cabin  and  took  a  fatal 
dose  of  opium.  He  had  held  out  for  three  weeks,  whereas 
Port  Arthur  had  been  lost  in  a  day.  The  war  continued  for 
a  few  weeks  longer,  the  Japanese  pursuing  their  advance  in 
Manchuria,  and  capturing  the  two  places  which  are  collect- 
ively called  Newchang,  thus  threatening  Pekin.  They  now 
possessed  an  army  of  100,000  men  ready  to  advance  upon 
the  Chinese  capital.  As  there  was  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
Pekin  could  be  successfully  defended,  the  necessity  of  con- 
cluding peace  as  promptly  as  possible  was  recognised.  To 
that  end  it  was  needful  to  appoint  a  plenipotentiary  whose 
name  would  convince  the  Japanese  government  that  the 
Chinese  were  in  earnest  in  their  overtures.  The  only  two 
men  who  possessed  the  requisite  qualifications  were  Prince 
Rung  and  Li  Hung  Chang.  The  former,  however,  be- 
ing a  prince  of  the  imperial  family,  and' the  uncle  of  the 
reigning  emperor,  K  wangsu,  could  not  be  induced  to  submit 
to  the  humiliation  of  proceeding  to  Japan  and  suing  for 
peace.  The  only  possible  selection,  therefore,  was  Li  Hung 
Chang,  who  was,  accordingly,  appointed  plenipotentiary. 
He  reached  Shimonoseki  on  March  20,  1395,  and,  four 
days  after  his  arrival,  the  success  of  his  mission  was 
greatly  promoted  by  the  attempt  of  a  fanatic  to  assassin- 
ate him  during  his  conference  with  Count  Ito,  the  Japanese 
representative.  The  wound  was  not  very  serious,  but  the 
outrage  caused  a  unanimous  expression  of  sympathy  and 
regret  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  people,  and  the  Mikado 
sent  his  own  physician  to  attend  the  wounded  minister.  To 
attest  their  sorrow  for  this  incident,  the  Japanese  at  once 
granted  an  armistice,  and  the  terms  of  peace  which  they  at 
first  proposed  were  materially  mitigated.    On  April  17  the 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN  AND  SUBSEQUENT  El  ENTS.      515 

Treaty  of  Shimonoseki  was  signed,  and,  on  May  8,  the  rati- 
fications were  exchanged  at  Chefoo.  The  terms  of  the  origi- 
nal treaty  were  these :  First,  China  was  to  surrender  Formo- 
sa and  the  Pescadores  Islands  and  the  southern  part  of  the 
Shingking  province,  including  the  Liau-Tung,  or  Regent's 
Sword  Peninsula,  and  of  course,  also,  the  naval  fortress  of 
Port  Arthur.  China  was  likewise  to  pay  in  eight  install- 
ments a  money  indemnity  of  200,000,000  Kuping  taels,  or, 
say,  $160,000,000.  She  was  also  to  grant  certain  commer- 
cial concessions,  including  the  admission  of  ships  under  the 
Japanese  flag  to  the  Chinese  lakes  and  rivers,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  consuls.  In  view  of  the  completeness  of 
Japan's  triumph,  these  conditions  could  not  be  considered 
onerous,  but  they,  undoubtedly,  disturbed  the  balance  of 
power  in  the  Far  East,  and,  had  they  been  permitted  to 
stand,  would  have  effectually  thwarted  Russia's  plan  of  ad- 
vancing southward,  and  of  obtaining  an  ice-free  port.  The 
Czar's  government,  accordingly,  determined  to  interpose, 
and,  having  secured  the  co-operation  of  its  French  ally,  and 
also  of  Germany,  it  presented  to  the  Mikado,  in  the  name  of 
the  three  powers,  a  request  that  he  should  waive  that  part 
of  the  Shimonoseki  Treaty  which  provided  for  the  surrender 
of  the  Liau-Tung  Peninsula.  It  was  proposed  that,  in  re- 
turn for  the  renunciation  of  this  territory  on  the  Chinese 
mainland,  the  pecuniary  indemnity  should  be  increased  by 
$30,000,000,  and  that  Wei-hai-Wei  should  be  retained  until 
the  whole  sum  should  have  been  paid.  The  demand  was, 
obviously,  one  that  could  not  be  rejected  without  war  against 
the  three  interposing  powers,  and  the  odds  were  too  great 
for  Japan  to  face  without  the  assistance  of  Great  Britain, 
which  Lord  Rosebery,  then  prime  minister,  did  not  see  fit  to 
offer.  The  Mikado,  accordingly,  submitted  to  the  loss  of  the 
best  part  of  the  fruits  of  victory,  retaining  only  Formosa 
and  the  Pescadores,  the  value  of  which  is,  as  yet,  undeter- 
mined; with  the  money  indemnity,  however,  Japan  has 
been  enabled  so  greatly  to  strengthen  her  fleet  that,  when 
all   the  vessels   building  for  her  are   completed,   she   will 


M6  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   CHIi\A. 

take   rank   as  a  naval    power    of    the    first    class  in  the 
Pacific. 

For  some  time  after  the  revision  of  the  Shimonoseki 
Treaty,  the  Chinese  seem  to  have  imagined  that  the  Czar 
had  intervened  from  disinterested  motives,  but  Count  Cas- 
sini,  the  Russian  minister  at  Pekin,  eventually  made  it 
clear  that  the  interposition  would  not  be  gratuitous.  In 
what  form  the  payment  for  Russia's  services  should  be 
made  was,  for  some  time,  the  subject  of  debate,  but,  before 
Li  Hung  Chang  left  China  in  the  spring  of  1896,  as  a  special 
embassador  to  attend  the  coronation  of  Nicholas  II.  at  Mos- 
cow, the  heads  of  a  convention  had  been  drawn  up,  and,  on 
Li's  arrival  in  Russia,  he  signed  an  agreement  which  em- 
bodied the  concessions  to  be  made  to  the  Czar  in  return  for 
his  services.  This  secret  treaty  gave  Russia  the  control  of 
the  Liau-Tung  Peninsula,  which  she  had  ostensibly  saved, 
at  the  cost  to  China  of  $30,000,000,  and  the  St.  Petersburg 
government  was  also  to  be  allowed  to  build  a  branch  of  the 
Trans-Siberian  Railway  through  Manchuria  to  Talienwan 
and  Port  Arthur.  A  period  of  eighteen  months  elapsed  be- 
fore the  details  of  this  momentous  agreement  became  known. 
On  the  return  of  Li  Hung  Chang  to  Pekin,  he  not  only 
tailed  to  recover  the  viceroyship  of  Chihli,  but  he  found  his 
relations  with  the  Emperor  Kwangsu  quite  as  unsatisfactory 
as  they  had  been  after  his  return  from  Shimonoseki.  He 
was  restored,  indeed,  to  a  seat  on  the  Tsungli  Yamen,  or 
Board  of  Foreign  Affairs,  but,  for  twelve  months,  it  seemed 
as  if,  despite  the  support  of  the  Empress-dowager  Tsi  An, 
his  influence  would  never  revive. 

The  two  years  that  followed  the  Shimonoseki  Treaty 
gave  a  breathing  spell  to  China,  and  should  have  been  de- 
voted to  energetic  reforms  in  the  military  and  naval  admin- 
istration. As  a  matter  of  fact,  nothing  had  been  accom 
plished,  when,  in  1897,  a  blow  fell  which  brought  the  Middle 
Kingdom  face  to  face  with  the  prospect  of  immediate  par- 
tition. In  November  of  that  year,  without  any  preliminary 
notice  or  warning  to  the  Pekin  government,  two  German 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN  AND  SUBSEQUENT  EVENTS.      617 

jien-of-war  entered  the  harbor  of  Kiao  Chou,  and  ordered 
the  commandant  to  give  up  the  place  in  reparation  for  the 
murder  of  two  German  missionaries  in  the  province  of  Shan- 
tung. Germany  refused  to  evacuate  Kiao  Chou  unless  due 
reparation  should  be  made  for  the  outrage  on  the  mission- 
aries, and  unless,  further,  China  would  cede  to  her  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  construct  railways  and  work  mines  through- 
out the  extensive  and  populous  province  of  Shantung.  This, 
of  course,  was  equivalent  to  the  demarcation  of  a  sphere  of 
influence.  For  a  time,  the  Pekin  government  showed  itself 
recalcitrant,  but,  in  January,  1898,  it  consented  to  lease  Kiao 
Chou  to  Germany  for  ninety-nine  years,  and  to  make  the 
required  additional  concession  of  exclusive  righto  in  Shan- 
tung. Russia,  on  her  part,  did  not  wait  long  after  the  Ger- 
man seizure  of  Kiao  Chou,  to  put  forward  her  claim  for 
compensation  on  account  of  the  services  rendered  in  the 
matter  of  the  revision  of  the  Shimonoseki  Treaty.  The 
terms  of  the  Cassini  agreement  were  now  gradually  re- 
vealed. In  Decemoer,  1897,  the  St.  Petersburg  government 
announced  that  the  Chinese  had  given  permission  to  the 
Russian  fleet  to  winter  at  Port  Arthur;  in  February,  1898, 
Russia  added  Talienwan  to  Port  Arthur,  but  essayed  to  die. 
arm  criticism  by  declaring  that  the  first-named  port  would 
be  opened  to  the  ships  of  all  the  great  powers  like  other  ports 
on  the  Chinese  mainland.  This  promise  was  subsequently 
qualified,  and  on  March  27  a  convention  was  signed  at  Pekin 
giving  the  Russians  the  "usufruct"  of  Port  Arthur  and 
Talienwan,  which,  practically,  meant  that  Russia  had  ob- 
tained those  harbors  unconditionally,  and  for  an  indefinite 
period.  France,  on  her  part,  obtained  possession  of  the  port 
of  Kwangchowfoo,  which  is  the  best  outlet  to  the  sea  for  the 
trade  of  the  southern  province  of  Kwangsi;  she  also  secured 
a  promise  that  the  island  of  Hainan  should  not  be  ceded  to 
any  other  power;  and,  finally,  she  gained  a  recognition  of 
her  claim,  first  advanced  in  1895,  to  a  prior  right  to  control 
the  commercial  development  of  the  province  of  Yunnan. 
This  claim  is  as  reasonable  as  that  put  forward  by  Germany 


518  A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   CHINA. 

with  reference  to  the  province  of  Shantung,  but  it  is  incom- 
patible with  the  northeastward  development  of  British  Bur- 
mah.  While  these  acts,  which,  virtually,  amounted  to  mu- 
tilations of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  were  being  committed  by- 
Germany,  Russia  and  France,  England  undertook  to  assert 
the  principle  of  the  "open  door,"  the  principle,  namely,  that, 
whatever  territorial  concessions  might  be  made  by  the  Pekin 
government,  no  nation  could  be  deprived  of  its  treaty  rights 
in  the  ports  ceded.  That  is  to  say,  American  citizens,  Brit- 
ish subjects,  or  the  subjects  of  any  other  power  which  has  a 
treaty  with  China  containing  "the  most  favored  nation" 
clause,  must  be  allowed  to  enjoy  precisely  the  same  rights  in 
Talienwan,  Kiao  Chou  and  Kwangchowfoo  as  they  would 
have  enjoyed  had  not  those  places  been  surrendered  to  Rus- 
sia, Germany  and  France  respectively.  This  principle  could 
only  have  been  enforced  by  war,  in  which  England  would 
have  needed  the  assistance  of  Japan ;  but  Japan  was  not  yet 
ready  to  engage  in  a  contest,  for  the  reason  that  she  still  had 
to  receive  $60,000,000  of  the  war  indemnity  due  from  China, 
and  because  the  war  vessels  which  she  had  ordered  to  be 
constructed  in  foreign  shipyards  were  not  yet  sufficiently 
near  completion.  Being  thus  constrained  to  abandon  the 
hope  of  maintaining  its  treaty  rights  in  the  ceded  parts  of 
China,  the  British  Foreign  Office  changed  its  ground  and  fell 
back  on  the  policy  of  exacting  an  equivalent  for  the  advan- 
tages gained  by  Russia,  Germany  and  France.  In  the  pur- 
suance of  this  policy  it  obtained  Wei-hai-Wei,  which,  as  we 
have  said,  is  one  of  the  two  keys  to  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli.  It 
is,  however,  very  inferior  to  Port  Arthur;  only  by  the  ex- 
penditure of  a  large  sum  of  money  could  it  be  made  a  naval 
fortress  of  high  rank,  and,  even  then,  it  would  require  a 
large  garrison  for  its  protection.  This  was  not  all  that 
England  gained,  however;  she  secured  a  promise  from  the 
Pekin  government  that  the  valley  of  the  Yangstekiang 
should  never  be  alienated  to  any  foreign  power  except  Great 
Britain.  The  limits  of  the  valley,  nevertheless,  were  not 
denned,  and  the  Pekin  authorities  have  acted  on  the  hypoth- 


WAR  WITH  JAPAN  AND  SUBSEQUENT  EVENTS.       ">19 

esis  that  the  covenant  against  alienation  did  not  debar  them 
from  giving  commercial  and  industrial  privileges  within 
the  basin  to  the  subjects  of  European  powers  other  than 
England.  The  right  to  build,  for  instance,  a  railway  from 
Pekin  to  Hangchow  has  been  conferred  upon  a  syndicate 
nominally  Belgian,  in  which,  however,  it  is  understood  that 
Russia  is  deeply  interested.  On  the  other  hand,  in  spite  of 
protests  from  St.  Petersburg,  the  privilege  of  extending  to 
Newchwang  in  Manchuria  the  railway  which  already  ex- 
tends some  distance  in  a  northeasterly  direction  from  Tien- 
tsin, has  been  secured  by  a  British  corporation. 

In  September,  1898,  a  palace  revolution  occurred  at 
Pekin.  For  some  time,  the  Emperor  Kwangsu  had  been 
known  to  be  under  the  influence  of  a  highly  intelligent  and 
progressive  Cantonese  named  Kang  Yu  Wei.  At  the  lat- 
ter's  suggestion,  edicts  were  put  forth  decreeing  important 
administrative  reforms  which  would  have  deprived  the  man- 
darins of  their  opportunities  of  embezzlement,  and  also  in- 
dicating an  intention  to  reorganize  the  educational  system 
of  China  upon  European  models.  The  necessity  of  such 
changes  is  obvious  enough  if  China  is  to  follow  Japan  in  the 
path  of  progress,  but  it  is  equally  plain  that  the  advocacy  of 
them  would  render  the  emperor  obnoxious  to  the  whole  body 
of  mandarins  and  of  the  literati.  The  unpopularity  caused 
by  his  proposed  innovations  proved  fatal  to  Kwangsu;  for 
the  party  at  court,  headed  by  the  Empress-dowager  Tsi  An, 
took  advantage  of  it  to  arrest  and  imprison  him.  Kang  Yu 
"Wei,  having  received  warning  of  the  conspiracy,  had  fled, 
and  succeeded  in  gaining  an  asylum  under  the  British  flag, 
but  many  of  the  emperor's  personal  followers  were  put  to 
death.  On  September  22,  appeared  an  edict  ostensibly  signed 
by  Kwangsu  announcing  that  he  had  requested  the  empress- 
dowager  to  resume  authority  over  the  affairs  of  State.  It 
hns  been  since  reported  that  he  has  been  killed.  The  im- 
mediate effect  of  the  coup  d'6tat  was  to  place  all  power  at 
Pekin  in  the  hands  of  Manchus  least  friendly  to  the  adoption 
of  European  ideas,  and  more  willing  to  lean  upon  Russia 


520  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF    CHINA. 

than  upon  any  other  foreign  power.  The  early  restoration 
to  high  office  of  Li  Hung  Chang,  who  has,  for  some  time, 
been  a  useful  tool  of  the  St.  Petersburg  government,  and 
who  is  a  favorite  of  the  empress-dowager,  may  be  looked 
upon  as  probable. 


THE    FUTURE    OF    CHINA 

It  is  obvious  that  arterial  communication  is  the  first 
organic  need  of  all  civilized  States,  and  pre-eminently  of  a 
country  so  vast  and  various  in  its  terrestrial  conditions  as 
is  China.  This  need  has  been  recognized  by  the  ablest  of  its 
rulers,  who,  from  time  to  time,  have  made  serious  efforts  to 
connect  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  empire  by  both  land 
and  water  routes.  The  Grand  Canal,  or  Yunho  ("River  of 
Transports"),  is  pronounced  as  memorable  a  monument  of 
human  industry  in  its  way  as  is  the  Great  Wall.  It  is  not, 
however,  a  canal  in  the  Western  sense  of  the  word,  but 
merely,  as  Richthofen  has  explained,  "a  series  of  abandoned 
river  beds,  lakes  and  marshes,  connected  one  with  another  by 
cuttings  of  no  importance,  fed  by  the  Wanho  in  Shantung, 
which  divides  into  two  currents  at  its  summit,  and  by  other 
streams  and  rivers  along  its  course.  A  part  of  the  water  of 
the  Wanho  descends  toward  the  Hoangho  and  Gulf  of  Pe- 
chihli;  the  larger  part  runs  south  in  the  direction  of  the 
Yangtse."  The  Grand  Canal  links  Hangchow,  a  port  on 
the  East  China  Sea,  south  of  the  Yangtse,  with  Tientsin 
in  Chihli,  where  it  unites  with  the  Peiho,  and  thus  may  be 
said  to  extend  to  Tungchow  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pekin. 
When  the  canal  was  in  order,  before  the  inflow  of  the  Yel- 
low River  failed,  there  was  uninterrupted  water  communica- 
tion from  Pekin  to  Canton,  and  to  the  many  cities  and  towns 
met  with  on  the  way.  For  many  years  past,  however,  and 
especially  since  the  carriage  of  tribute-rice  by  steamers  along 
the  coast  began,  repairs  of  the  Grand  Canal  have  been  prac- 
tically abandoned.     The  roads  in  China,  confined  general!}' 


THE   FUTURE    OF   CHINA.  521 

to  the  northern  and  western  sections*  of  the  country,  are  de- 
scribed as  the  very  worst  in  the  world.  The  paving,  accord- 
ing to  Baber,  "is  of  the  usual  Chinese  pattern,  rough  bowl- 
ders and  blocks  of  stone  being  laid  somewhat  loosely  together 
on  the  surface  of  the  ground;  'good  for  ten  years  and  bad 
for  ten  thousand,'  as  the  Chinese  proverb  admits.  On  the 
level  plains  of  China,  where  the  population  is  sufficiently 
affluent  to  subscribe  for  occasional  repairs,  the  system  has 
much  practical  value.  But,  in  the  Yunnan  mountains,  the 
roads  are  never  repaired ;  so  far  from  it,  the  indigent  natives 
extract  the  most  convenient  blocks  to  stop  the  holes  in  their 
hovel  walls,  or  to  build  a  fence  on  the  windward  side  of  their 
poppy  patches.  The  rains  soon  undermine  the  pavement, 
especially  where  it  is  laid  on  a  steep  incline ;  sections  of  it 
topple  down  the  slope,  leaving  chasms  a  yard  or  more  in 
depth."  Where  traveling  by  water  is  impossible,  sedan 
chairs  are  used  to  carry  passengers,  and  coolies  with  poles 
and  slings  transport  the  luggage  and  goods.  The  distances 
covered  by  the  sedan  chair  porters  are  remarkable,  being 
sometimes  as  much  as  thirty-five  miles  a  day,  even  on  a 
journey  extending  over  a  month.  The  transport  animals — 
ponies,  mules,  oxen  and  donkeys — are  strong  and  hardy,  and 
manage  to  drag  carts  along  the  execrable  roads.  The  ponies 
are  said  to  be  admirable,  and  the  mules  unequaled  in  any 
other  country.  The  distances  which  these  animals  will  cover 
on  the  very  poorest  of  forage  are  surprising. 

The  rapid  adoption  of  steamers  along  the  coast  and  on  the 
Yangtse  has  paved  the  way  for  railways.  Shallow  steamers 
have  yet  to  traverse  the  Poyang  and  the  Tungting  Lakes, 
which  lie  near  the  Yangtse,  and  Peiho  and  Canton  Rivers, 
M  well  as  many  minor  streams.  It  is  the  railway,  however, 
that  is  the  supreme  necessity.  Mr.  Colquhoun  has  pointed 
out  that,  except  along  the  Yangtse  for  the  thousand-odd 
miles  now  covered  by  steamers,  there  is  not  a  single  trade 
route  of  importance  in  China  where  a  railway  would  not 
pay.  Especially  would  a  line  from  Pelrin  carried  through 
the  heart  of  China  to  the  extreme  south,  along  the  existing 


62%  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

trade  routes,  be  advantageous  and  remunerative.  The  enor 
mous  traffic  carried  on  throughout  the  Celestial  Empire  in 
the  face  of  appalling  difficulties,  on  men's  backs,  or  by  cara- 
vans of  mules  or  ponies,  or  by  the  rudest  of  carts  and  wheel- 
barrows, must  be,  some  day,  undertaken  by  railways.  In 
the  judgment  of  careful  observers,  too  much  stress  should 
not  be  laid  on  the  introduction  of  the  locomotive  for  strategic 
purposes.  The  capital  aim  of  railway  construction  should 
be,  they  think,  the  development  of  the  interprovincial  trade 
of  China,  the  interchange  of  the  varied  products  of  a  coun- 
try which  boasts  so  many  climates  and  soils.  This  would 
bring  prosperity  to  the  people,  render  administrative  reforms 
possible,  and  open  China  for  the  Chinese  quite  as  much  as 
for  the  European  merchant  or  manufacturer.  From  the 
viewpoint  of  Chinese  interests,  the  most  useful  lines  would 
be  two  that  should  connect  Pekin,  Tientsin  and  all  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  country  with  central  and  southern  China. 
Trunk  lines  could  -be  constructed  for  this  purpose  without 
any  difficulty.  They  would  pass  along  the  old  trade  tracks, 
and  would  encounter  populous  cities  the  whole  way.  Through 
eastern  Shansi  and  Honan,  for  example,  to  Hangchow  on  the 
Yangtse;  thence  to  the  Si  Kiang  and  Canton;  such  lines 
would  be  shafts  driven  through  the  heart  of  the  Middle  King- 
dom, connecting  the  North  and  the  South.  For  the  entire 
distance,  some  1,300  or  1,400  miles,  the  extent,  fertility  and 
variety  of  the  soil  are  described  as  remarkable.  From  the 
North,  abounding  in  cotton  and  varieties  of  grain  and  pulse, 
to  the  South,  where  many  vegetable  products  of  the  Orient 
are  met,  the  redundancy  of  the  population  is  a  striking  feat- 
ure. A  constant  succession  of  villages,  towns  and  cities 
would  be  transformed  into  a  picture  of  bustle  and  business. 
The  internal  economical  conditions  of  China  to-day  are 
very  much  the  same  as  were  those  of  India  when  railways 
were  introduced.  The  only  difference  is  that  the  Chinese 
people  are  better  off  per  man,  and  that  the  Chinese  and  Indo- 
Chinese,  unlike  the  natives  of  India,  are  born  travelers  and 
traders.     Yet,  even  in  India,  contrary  to  expectation,  the 


THE    FUTURE    OF    CHINA. 

passenger  traffic  on  the  railways  has,  from  the  first,  exceeded 
the  goods  traffic.  In  185?,  the  number  of  passengers  carried 
by  railway  in  India  was  2,000,000;  in  1896,  it  had  risen  to 
160,000,000.  In  the  first  named  year,  the  quantity  of  goods 
transported  was  253,000  tons;  in  1896,  it  was  32,500,000  tons. 
There  has  been  witnessed  in  India  during  those  forty  years 
an  expansion  of  commerce  which,  at  the  outset  of  the  period, 
would  have  been  deemed  incredible.  The  imports  and  ex- 
ports rose  in  that  time  from  400,000,000  to  2,000,000,000 
rupees.  Forty  years  ago,  India  was  merely  a  dealer  in 
drugs,  dyes  and  luxuries;  now  she  is  one  of  the  largest  pur- 
veyors of  food  grains,  fibers,  and  many  other  staples.  Few 
persons  are  aware  how  favorably  the  earnings  of  Indian  rail- 
ways compare  with  those  of  other  countries.  The  average 
earnings  of  railways  in  the  United  States  are  3  per  cent;  in 
Great  Britain,  3.60  per  cent;  in  India,  5.46  percent.  This 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that,  in  India,  a  man  can  travel  400  miles 
within  twenty-four  hours  for  the  sum  of  $2.08.  The  policy 
of  low  charges  has  answered  well,  the  people,  on  its  adop- 
tion, at  once  having  begun  to  travel  and  to  send  their  prod- 
uce by  rail.  In  China,  also,  low  rates  will  be  a  necessity. 
Another  fact  of  importance  to  China  is  that,  out  of  the 
260,000  people  employed  on  Indian  railways,  95.66  per  cent 
are  natives.  Only  the  higher  posts  are  held  by  Europeans. 
In  China,  the  proportions  would  probably  be  even  more  in 
favor  of  the  native  element. 

Mr.  Colquhoun,  who  is  a  high  authority,  has  no  doubt 
that,  as  Richthof  en  anticipated  years  ago,  China  will  eventu- 
ally be  directly  connected  with  Europe  via  Hami,  Lanchow 
and  Sian.  "No  direct  connection  of  this  kind,"  says  Rich- 
thofen,  "is  possible  south  of  the  Wei  basin,  and  any  road  to 
the  north  of  it  would  have  to  keep  entirely  north  of  the  Yel- 
low River  and  run  altogether  through  desert  countries. "  The 
same  reason  which  confined  the  commerce  of  China  with  the 
West  during  thousands  of  years  to  the  natural  route  via 
Hami  will  be  decisive  as  regards  railway  communication 
also.     In  respect  of  natural  facilities,  and  because  of  the 


524  A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   CHINA. 

existence  of  populous,  productive  and  extensive  commercial 
regions  at  both  ends  of  the  line,  it  is  the  only  practicable 
route.  It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  the  whole  tract  would  be 
provided  with  coal.  The  province  of  Kansuh  rivals  Shansi 
in  the  richness  and  extent  of  its  coal  fields ;  no  section  of  it 
north  of  the  Tsungling  Mountains  appears  to  be  deficient  in 
coal  measures,  and,  in  some  parts,  a  superabundance  of  the 
combustible  exists.  The  coal  formation  extends,  with  few 
interruptions,  from  Eastern  Shansi  to  Hi  through  thirty  de- 
grees of  longitude.  There  is  scarcely,  remarks  Richthofen, 
an  instance  on  record  "where  so  many  favorable  and  essen- 
tial conditions  co-operate  to  concentrate  all  future  intercourse 
on  so  long  a  line  upon  one  single  and  definite  channel."  As 
regards  railways  within  the  empire,  a  Pekin-Hankow  line 
has  been  arranged  for,  as  we  pointed  out  in  the  previous 
chapter,  with  a  so-called  Belgian  syndicate,  and,  if  properly 
executed,  should  be  a  good  line ;  but,  as  we  have  said,  it  is 
the  opinion  of  experts  that  the  best  railway  contemplated  in 
China  would  be  that  from  Pekin  via  Tientsin  to  Hangchow, 
with  an  extension  later  to  Canton.  The  line  would  pass 
some  forty  towns,  with  an  average  population  of  25,000  each, 
and  a  large  number  of  villages.  The  length  of  the  Grand 
Canal  from  Tientsin  to  Hangchow  is  650  miles.  According 
to  Mr.  Colquhoun,  no  better  line  for  a  railway  exists  in  the 
world,  from  the  viewpoint  of  population,  resources  and  cheap- 
ness of  construction.  It  follows  the  most  important  of  the 
actual  routes  of  commerce  in  the  empire,  passes  the  greatest 
nossible  number  of  cities,  towns  and  villages,  and  connects 
great  seaports  with  rich  coal  regions  of  authenticated  value. 
"We  pass  to  the  telegraph  and  postal  service.  It  appears 
that  government  telegraphs  are  being  rapidly  extended 
throughout  the  empire.  There  are  lines  between  Pekin  and 
Tientsin,  and  lines  connecting  the  capital  with  the  principal 
places  in  Manchuria  as  far  as  the  Russian  frontier  on  the 
Amour  and  the  Usuri,  while  Newchwang,  Chefoo,  Shang- 
hai, Yangchow,  Souchow,  the  seven  treaty  ports  on  the 
Yangtse,  Canton,  Woochow,  Lungchow,  and,  in  fact,  most 


THE   FUTURE   OF   CHINA.  525 

of  the  principal  cities  in  the  empire,  are  now  joined  by  wire 
with  one  another  and  with  the  metropolis.  The  line  from 
Canton  westward  passes  via  Yunnanfoo  to  Manwein,  on  the 
borders  of  Burmah.  Shanghai  is  in  communication  with 
Foochow  and  Moy,  Kashing,  Shaoshing,  Ningpo  and  other 
places.  Lines  have  been  constructed  between  Foochow  and 
Canton  and  between  Taku,  Port  Arthur  and  Seoul  in  Corea, 
and  the  line  along  the  Yangtse  Valley  has  been  extended  to 
Chungking.  By  an  arrangement  made  with  the  Russian 
telegraph  authorities,  the  Chinese  and  Siberian  lines  in  the 
Amour  Valley  were  joined  in  the  latter  part  of  1892,  and 
there  is  now  overland  communication  between  Pekin  and 
Europe  through  Russian  territory.  The  postal  service  of 
China  is  unquestionably  primitive  from  a  "Western  point  of 
view.  It  is  carried  on  by  means  of  post  carts  and  runners. 
There  are,  besides,  numerous  private  postal  couriers,  and, 
during  the  winter,  when  the  approach  to  the  capital  is  closed 
by  sea  and  river,  a  service  between  the  office  of  Foreign 
Customs  at  Pekin  and  the  outports  is  maintained.  The  Chi- 
nese, it  seems,  have  always  been  great  believers  in  their  own 
postal  system.  Even  those  who  have  emigrated  to  British 
colonies  have  adhered  to  their  own  method  of  transporting 
letters,  refusing  to  use  the  duly  constituted  government  posts, 
except  under  compulsion.  Both  Hongkong  and  the  Straits 
Settlements  have  been  actually  compelled  to  legislate  in  the 
matter.  It  is  said,  however,  to  be  remarkable  how  safe  the 
native  post  is,  not  merely  for  the  carriage  of  ordinary  letters, 
but  for  the  conveyance  of  money.  We  should  add  that,  on 
February  2,  1897,  the  Imperial  Chinese  Post  Office  was 
opened  under  the  management  of  Sir  Robert  Hart,  and 
China  has  since  joined  the  Postal  Union. 

In  a  chapter  of  Mr.  Colquhoun's  book  bearing  the  cap- 
tion "England's  Objective  in  China,"  we  are  told  that  there 
are  two  ways  of  attacking  the  trade  of  China  in  the  Middle 
Kingdom,  so  far  as  England  is  concerned.  The  one  is  from 
the  seaboard,  entering  China  by  the  chief  navigable  rivers, 
notably  the  Yangtse,  which  is  the  main  artery  of  China,  and 


520  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

the  "West  River,  which  passes  through  the  southern  provinces. 
The  other  mode  of  approach  is  from  England's  land  base, 
Burmah,  through  Yunnan.  It  is  acknowledged  that  the 
sea  approach,  hitherto  the  only  one,  is,  from  the  purely- 
trading  point  of  view,  incomparably  the  more  important; 
but  the  other,  or  complementary  land  route,  is  pronounced 
a  necessity  if  England's  commercial  and  political  influence 
is  to  be  maintained  and  extended.  The  isolation  of  China 
over  sea  has  long  since  been  annuled  by  steam,  and  her  for- 
mer complete  isolation  by  land  has  now  ceased  also.  Hith- 
erto cut  off  from  access  by  land,  she  will,  in  the  north,  be 
shortly  placed  in  direct  railway  communication  with  Europe, 
a  fact  which  by  itself  renders  imperative  a  corresponding  ad- 
vance from  the  south.  It  is  many  years  since  Mr.  Colquhoun 
began  to  advocate  the  railway  communication  of  Burmah 
with  southwestern  China,  first  with  the  view  to  open  Yunnan 
and  Szchuen,  and,  secondly,  to  effect  a  junction  between 
those  two  great  waterways,  the  Yangtse  and  the  Irrawaddy. 
It  seemed  to  him  that  the  connection  of  the  navigation  limit 
of  the  Yangtse  with  the  most  easterly  province  of  Anglo- 
India  was  a  matter  of  cardinal  importance,  not  merely  be- 
cause it  was  eminently  desirable  for  commercial  purposes  to 
connect  the  central  and  lower  regions  of  the  Yangtse  with 
Burmah,  but  also  for  political  reasons.  It  so  happens  that 
the  navigation  limit  of  that  river  lies  within  the  province  of 
Szchuen,  which,  in  Mr.  Colquhoun's  opinion,  should  be  the 
commercial  and  political  objective  of  England.  Szchuen, 
from  its  size,  population,  trade  and  products,  may,  accord- 
ing to  Mrs.  Bishop,  be  truly  called  the  Empire  Province. 
Apart  from  its  great  mineral  resources,  the  province  pro- 
duces silk,  wax  and  tobacco,  all  of  good  quality;  grass 
cloth,  grain  in  abundance,  and  tea,  plentiful  though  of 
poor  flavor.  The  climate  is  changeable,  necessitating  a  va- 
riety of  clothing.  Cotton  is  grown  in  Szchuen,  but  Bourne 
states  that  Indian  yarn  is  driving  it  out  of  cultivation,  not 
apparently  on  account  of  the  enormous  saving  through  spin- 
ning by  machinery,  but  because  the  fiber  can  be  grown  more 


THE   FUTURE   OF   C 11 IS A.  btf 

cheaply  in  India.  The  greater  part  of  the  surplus  wealth 
of  Szch'uen  is  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  raw  native  and 
foreign  cotton  and  woolen  goods.  All  the  cotton  bought  is 
not  consumed  in  the  province,  for  the  inhabitants  manufact- 
ure from  the  imported  raw  material  and  export  the  product 
to  Yunnan  and  western  Kweichow.  Rich  as  it  is,  Szchuen 
has  the  disadvantage  of  being  difficult  of  access  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  for  at  present  merchandise  can  now  only 
reach  it  during  certain  months  of  the  year,  and  after  a  diffi- 
cult voyage.  Its  trade  would  be  increased  very  greatly  were 
the  navigation  of  the  Yangtse  rendered  easier  and  safer,  thus 
facilitating  the  establishment  of  effective  steam  communica- 
tion not  only  to  Chungking,  but  as  far  as  Suifoo. 

The  natural  channel  of  trade  between  Hongkong  and 
southwestern  China  is  the  Sikiang,  or  West  River.  Owing, 
however,  to  the  obstacles  raised  by  taxation  and  the  non- 
enforcement  by  England  of  the  transit-pass  system,  trade 
has  been  diverted  to  other  channels,  such  as  the  Pakhoi- 
Nanning  route,  and  later  to  the  Tonquin  route,  the  French 
having  insisted  on  the  effective  carrying  out  of  the  transit- 
pass  system  via  Mengtse.  At  present  British  goods  are 
actually  sent  from  Hongkong  through  French  territory  via 
Mengtse  to  a  point  within  seven  days  of  Bhamo  in  Burmah. 
The  Lungchow  route,  whatever  its  merits  might  have  been, 
had  the  railway  line  from  Pakhoi  to  Nanning  not  been  se- 
cured by  the  French  government,  is  now,  according  to  Mr. 
Colquhoun,  of  quite  secondary  importance.  He  concedes 
that,  unless  the  West  River  is  at  once  effectively  opened 
throughout  its  course,  the  Pakhoi-Nanning-Yunnan  route 
is  bound  to  command  the  largest  share  of  the  trade  of  south 
and  southwestern  China. 

Having  passed  under  review  the  provinces  of  south  and 
southwestern  China  and  the  great  waterways — to  wit,  the 
Yangtse  and  West  rivers — we  may  now  inquire  what  meas- 
ures should  be  adopted  to  improve  the  present  state  of  affairs 
in  the  interest  of  China  and  of  foreign  trade.  The  first  step 
suggested  is  the  improvement  of  communication  by  railways 


528  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

and  steam  navigation.  So  far  as  railways  are  concerned, 
Burmah  should  be  connected  with  Tali  and  Yunnanfoo, 
Yunnanfoo  with  banning,  Canton  with  Kaulun.  This 
would  thoroughly  open  the  whole  of  Southern  China  lying 
between  Burmah  and  the  British  colony  of  Hongkong. 
Yunnanfoo  should  also  be  connected  to  the  northeast  with 
Suifoo  on  the  upper  Yangtse,  the  navigation  limit  of  that 
waterway.  Steam  navigation  should  at  once  be  extended  to 
Nanning  and  to  Suifoo,  and  also,  wherever  it  may  be  prac- 
ticable, throughout  all  inland  waters.  Next  in  importance 
to  the  creation  of  proper  communication  is  the  question  of 
taxation.  All  travelers,  in  Southern  China  especially,  dwell 
on  the  obstacles  to  trade  resulting  from  the  collection  of  so 
many  various  imposts.  The  British  government  should  in- 
sist on  its  treaty  rights,  especially  the  enforcement,  success- 
fully accomplished  by  the  French  government,  of  the  transit- 
pass  system.  It  is,  finally,  the  conviction  of  all  competent 
students  of  the  subject  that  it  is  from  Burmah,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  from  Shanghai  and  Hongkong  on  the  other,  that 
England  must,  by  the  aid  of  steam  applied  overland  and  by 
water,  practically  occupy  the  upper  Yangtse  region,  which 
will  be  found  to  be  the  key  to  a  dominant  position  in  China. 
In  some  comments  on  China's  prospective  commercial 
development  Mr.  Colquhoun,  the  latest  first-hand  observer, 
sets  forth  some  statistics  which  are  of  interest  not  only  to 
Englishmen  but  to  Americans.  He  shows  that  in  1896  the 
total  net  value  of  imports  and  of  exports  was  £55,768,500, 
and  the  total  gross  value  £57,274,000,  of  which  the  British 
dominions  contributed  £39,271,000,  leaving  for  all  other  na- 
tions £18,003,000.  Of  this  aggregate  Russia  contributed 
€2,856,000,  the  rest  of  Europe  £4,585,000,  Japan  £4,705,000, 
and  other  countries,  including  the  United  States,  £5,767,000. 
The  percentage  of  the  carrying  trade  of  the  Middle  Kingdom 
under  foreign  flags  was:  British,  82.04:  German,  7.49; 
French,  2.00;  Japanese,  1.34;  Russian,  0.59;  other  coun- 
tries, 5.54.  The  percentage  of  dues  and  duties  paid  under 
foreign  flags  was  as  follows:  British,  76.04;  German,  10.12; 


THE  FUTURE   OF  CHINA.  529 

French,  2.95;  Japanese,  2.28;  Russian,  1.90;  all  other  na- 
tions, 6.71.  It  appears,  then,  that  Great  Britain  not  only 
carries  eighty-two  per  cent  of  the  total  foreign  trade  with 
China,  but  pays  seventy-two  per  cent  of  the  revenue  result- 
ing from  that  trade.  Until  recently,  British  subjects  were 
at  liberty  to  carry  on  business  at  but  eighteen  ports  in  China. 
They  were  Newchwang,  Tientsin,  Chifui.  on  the  northern 
coast;  Chungking,  Ichang,  Hank'^  Kiukiang,  Wehu0 
Chinkiang  and  Shanghai,  on  the  Yangtse  River;  Ningpo, 
Wenchow,  Foochow,  Amoy,  Swatow,  Canton,  Hoihow  (Ki- 
ungchow)  and  Pakhoy,  on  the  coast  south  of  the  Yangtse. 
To  these  must  be  now  added  Shansi  en  the  Yangtt**\  be- 
tween Ichang  and  Hankow ;  Hangchow  and  Souchow,  two 
inland  cities  near  Shanghai;  Woochow  and  Sanshui  on  the 
West  River  and  Ssumao  and  Lungchow,  in  the  south.  It  is 
also  reported  that  three  other  ports  have  been  very  recently 
opened;  viz.,  Yochow,  on  the  Tungting  Lake;  Chungwang, 
on  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli,  and  Funing  in  Fuhkien. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  demonstrate  how  deeply  the  United 
States  are  concerned  in  the  China  question  from  the  indus- 
trial point  of  view.  Inasmuch  as,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
Americans  now  manufacture  more  than  they  consume,  they 
are  compelled  to  embark  on  a  foreign  policy  and  to  look 
increasingly  to  foreign  markets,  they  cannot  but  feel  that 
the  future  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  is  a  matter  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  themselves.  It  is  manifest  that  the  Pacific  slope, 
though  at  present  playing  but  a  small  part,  is  destined  to  be 
more  profoundly  affected  by  the  development  of  China  than 
is  any  other  section  of  the  American  republic.  Our  Pacific 
States  are  possessed  of  enormous  natural  resources;  their 
manufactures  have  quadrupled  in  twenty  years,  and  will,  in 
the  course  of  time,  find  a  most  advantageous  market  in  the 
Far  East.  When  the  Nicaragua  Canal  shall  have  been  dug, 
the  Atlantic  States  will  also  be  brought  into  close  connection 
with  China  and  with  the  rest  of  Eastern  Asia.  The  volume 
of  the  United  States  traffic  with  China  already  represented  a 
considerable  part  of  the  foreign  trade  of  the  empire  in  1896. 

3) 


S30  A   SHORT  HISTORY    OF  CHINA. 

While  the  imports  from  China  received  by  the  United  States 
have  increased  but  slowly,  the  exports  from  the  last-named 
country  to  the  Middle  Kingdom  have  increased  126  per  cent 
in  ten  years,  and  are  more  than  fifty  per  cent  greater  than 
the  exports  of  Germany  to  the  same  market.  The  export  of 
American  cotton  cloths  to  China  amounted  to  $7,485,000  in 
1897,  or  nearly  one-half  the  entire  value  of  cotton  cloths  sent 
abroad  by  the  United  States.  The  export  of  kerosene  oil 
from  the  States  to  China  now  ranks  second  in  importance 
to  that  of  cotton  goods,  and  is  likely  to  increase  at  a  rapid 
rate.  The  Chinese  demand  for  the  illuminating  fluid  is 
quickly  growing,  and  the  delivery  of  it  from  the  United 
States  to  China  has  more  than  trebled  in  value  during  the 
past  ten  years.  That  is  to  say,  it  has  risen  from  $1,466,000 
in  1888  to  $4,498,000  in  1897.  The  Russian  oil  has  hitherto 
been  the  only  serious  foreign  competitor  of  the  American 
product,  but  the  Langkat  oil  is  coming  to  some  extent  into 
use.  The  exports  of  American  wheat  flour  to  China  reached 
a  value  in  1897  of  $3,390,000,  and  those  of  chemicals,  dyes, 
etc.,  $1,000,000.  At  present,  the  export  trade  of  the  United 
States  to  China  is  confined  mainly  to  cottons  and  mineral 
oils;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  largely  restricted  to  commodities 
which  would  be  hard  to  sell  in  any  Chinese  port  where  the 
conditions  of  equal  trade  did  not  prevail.  It  would  probably 
prove  impossible  to  sell  them  in  any  Asiatic  port  controlled 
by  Russia  or  by  France.  It  follows  that,  although  England 
has  most  to  lose  by  the  partition  of  China,  even  though  she 
should  receive  a  large  share  of  territory,  the  United  States 
are  also  deeply  interested  in  the  question,  for  their  trade  is 
already  considerable,  and  is  likely,  under  favorable  circum- 
stances, to  undergo  great  expansion. 

Let  us,  finally,  examine  the  Chinese  question  from  a 
political  point  of  view.  We  concur  with  Mr.  Colquhoun  in 
believing  that  Englishmen  are  now  at  the  parting  of  the 
ways,  and  that  their  failure  to  take  the  right  course  in  the 
Far  East  will  mean  the  loss  of  England's  commercial  su- 
premacy, and,  eventually,  the  disintegration  of  the  British 


THE   FUTURE   OF  CHINA.  531 

Empire.  He  maintains  that,  since  November  16,  1896,  when 
the  German  government  was  compelled  by  Bismarck's  reve- 
lations to  disclose  the  drift  of  its  future  policy,  it  has  been 
apparent  that  there  is  an  increasing  tendency  toward  co- 
operation in  the  Near  East  and  the  Far  East  between  Ger- 
many and  Russia,  and  therefore,  also,  between  those  powers 
and  France,  which  is  Russia's  ally.  The  understanding  is 
based  upon  mutual  interest,  territorial  in  the  case  of  Russia, 
commercial  in  that  of  Germany,  and  political  in  the  case  of 
France.  The  cornerstone  of  the  combination  is  Russia, 
whose  goodwill  is  sought  for  at  all  costs  by  France,  in  a 
lesser  degree  by  Germany,  and,  latterly,  even  by  Austria- 
Hungary.  The  chief  aim  of  the  combination  is  the  reduc- 
tion of  England  to  a  secondary  position,  politically  and  com- 
mercially. In  China,  the  outcome  of  the  coalition  has  been 
to  isolate  England  completely.  For  some  years  past,  her 
efforts  to  secure  concessions  at  Pekin  have  been  frustrated 
by  Russia  and  France.  Meanwhile,  these  two  countries, 
and,  more  lately,  Germany  as  well,  have  secured  for  them- 
selves solid  advantages.  Japan,  on  her  part,  since  she  was 
compelled  to  submit  to  a  revision  of  the  Shimonoseki  treaty, 
has  been  watching  silently  and  preparing  anxiously  for 
eventualities.  England's  official  optimists  talked  in  1895, 
however,  as  they  still  talk,  of  the  successes  gained,  the  "recti- 
fication" of  the  Burmo-Chinese  frontier  and  the  incomplete 
"opening"  of  the  West  River.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
British  government  has  done  little  or  nothing  to  establish 
overland  railway  communication  from  Burmah  to  China,  or 
to  reach  China  "from  behind,"  as  Lord  Salisbury  called  it; 
and  the  Upper  Yangtse,  the  main  artery  of  China,  has  re- 
mained practically  unopened.  Such,  at  least,  was  the  situa- 
tion a  few  months  ago. 

To  understand  the  present  situation,  which  is  the  natural 
sequel  of  1895,  it  is  needful,  first  of  all,  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  Russia  is,  at  this  moment,  the  protector  of  China  against 
all  comers,  and  that  France  supports  her  firmly,  while  Ger- 
many, having  once  taken  the  decisive  step  of  placing  herself 


532  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

alongside  Russia,  is  likely  to  follow  the  czar's  lead  for  two 
sufficient  reasons;  namely,  for  fear  of  displeasing  the  Russian 
ally  of  France,  and  because  concessions  are  not  likely  to  be 
obtained  at  Pekin  by  Germany,  if  the  latter  country  places 
itself  in  direct  and  open  opposition  to  the  St.  Petersburg  gov- 
ernment. Russian  influence  has,  for  some  time  past,  been 
omnipotent  at  Pekin,  mainly  through  the  kindly  assistance 
rendered  to  China  in  1895,  followed  up  by  what  has  been 
practically  an  offensive  and  defensive  league.  The  nature 
of  the  understanding  between  Russia  and  the  Middle  King- 
dom has,  indeed,  for  some  time  been  patent  to  all  the  world 
except  Englishmen,  the  chief  features  of  it  being:  First,  an 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance;  secondly,  branch  railways 
through  Manchuria;  thirdly,  the  refortification  of  Port 
Arthur  and  Talienwan,  both  to  be  paid  for  by  China,  and 
either  or  both  of  these  harbors  to  be  placed  at  Russia's  dis- 
posal whenever  they  may  be  required.  It  is  true  that  China 
has  denied  the  existence  of  any  agreement  except  that  con- 
cerning the  northern  Manchurian  Railway,  but  Russia  has 
never  denied  anything  except  the  accuracy  of  the  version  of 
the  so-called  "Cassini"  Convention,  published  by  a  Shanghai 
paper.  Apart  from  the  existence  of  any  written  contract,  the 
facts  speak  for  themselves.  Russia,  having  had  a  prior  lien 
on  Kiao  Chou,  it  is  obvious  that  Germany  could  not  have 
seized  that  harbor  in  opposition  to  Russia.  Again,  what  is 
to  prevent  Germany  from  discovering  some  day  that  Kiao 
Chou  does  not  "meet  her  requirements,"  in  which  event 
what  is  there  to  hinder  Russia  from  taking  over  Kiao  Chou 
and  giving  Germany  another  port?  Provision  has,  in  truth, 
been  made  to  enable  Germany  to  treat  Kiao  Chou  as  a  nego- 
tiable bill  of  exchange. 

There  is  really  nothing  unforeseen  in  the  recent  evolution 
of  affairs  in  the  Far  East.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  been 
clearly  indicated  by  various  writers  in  the  past  fifty  years. 
As  far  back  as  1850,  Meadows  wrote :  "China  will  tiot  be 
conquered  by  any  "Western  power  until  she  becomes  the 
Persia  of  some  future  Alexander  the  Great  of  Russia,  which 


THE  FUTURE  OF  CHINA.  533 

is  the  Macedon  of  Europe.  England,  America  and  France 
will,  if  they  are  wise,  wage,  severally  or  collectively,  a  war 
of  exhaustion  with  Russia  rather  than  allow  her  to  conquer 
China,  for,  when  she  has  done  that,  she  will  be  mistress 
of  the  world."  In  reply  to  those  who  ridicule  the  policy  of 
"guarding  against  imaginary  Russian  dangers  in  China," 
he  said:  "Many  may  suppose  the  danger  to  be  too  remote 
to  be  a  practical  subject  for  the  present  generation.  The 
subject  is  most  practical  at  the  present  hour,  for,  as  the 
English,  Americans  and  French  now  deal  with  China,  and 
with  her  relations  to  Russia,  so  the  event  will  be.  For  those 
to  whom  *it  will  last  our  time'  is  a  word  of  practical  wis- 
dom, this  volume  is  not  written."  Again,  a  few  years  later, 
Meadows  wrote:  "The  greatest,  though  not  nearest,  dan- 
ger of  a  weak  China  lies  precisely  in  those  territorial  ag- 
gressions of  Russia  which  she  began  two  centuries  ago,  and 
which,  if  allowed  to  go  on,  will  speedily  give  her  a  large 
and  populous  territory,  faced  with  Sveaborgs  and  Sebas- 
topols  on  the  seaboard  of  Eastern  Asia.  Let  England, 
America  and  France  beware  how  they  create  a  sick  giant 
in  the  Far  East.  China  is  a  world-necessity."  Foreshad- 
owing the  gradual  extension  of  Russia  into  China,  and  the 
time  when  the  former  country  would  become  dominant  at 
Pekin,  and  when,  with  all  Manchuria  organized  behind  her, 
she  would  occupy  the  whole  of  the  Yellow  River  basin, 
Meadows  expressed  the  belief  that,  should  that  occasion 
occur,  no  combination  of  powers  would  then  be  able  to 
thwart  Russia's  purpose.  "With  120,000,000  Chinese  to 
work  or  fight  for  her,  nothing  would  stand  between  Russia 
and  the  conquest  of  the  rest  of  the  Celestial  Empire;  not 
China  alone,  but  Europe  itself  would  then  be  dominated, 
and  it  would  cost  the  Russian  Emperor  of  China  but  little 
trouble  to  overwhelm  the  Pacific  States  of  the  New  World." 
Buch  was  the  forecast  of  a  writer  whose  name  is  to-day 
lorgotten. 

What  are  the  advantages  which  Russia  possesses  over 
England  in  dealing  with  China?     There  is,  in  the  first  place, 


534  A   SHORT  HISTORl    OF   CHINA. 

the  advantage  of  proximity.  The  Chinese  people  in  the 
northern  provinces,  and  especially  at  the  capital,  which  is  not 
far  from  the  Great  Wall,  undoubtedly  discriminate  between 
Russians  and  other  foreigners.  Like  other  Orientals,  they 
only  believe  what  they  see;  and  Russia  is  seen  and  realized 
on  the  northern  frontier.  Besides  the  effect  of  contact,  the 
Russians  possess  a  gift  in  dealing  with  the  Chinese.  The 
affinities  and  analogies  which  the  Russians  and  Chinese 
exhibit  have  been  depicted  by  Michie  in  his  book  on  the 
"Siberian  Overland  Route."  "Analogies  in  the  manners, 
customs  and  modes  of  thought  of  the  two  races  are  constantly 
turning  up,  and  their  resemblance  to  the  Chinese  has  become 
a  proverb  among  the  Russians  themselves.  The  Russians 
and  the  Chinese  are  peculiarly  suited  to  each  other  in  the 
commercial  as  well  as  in  the  diplomatic  departments.  They 
have  an  equal  disregard  for  truth,  for  the  Russian,  in  spite 
of  his  fair  complexion,  is,  at  the  bottom,  more  than  half 
Asiatic.  There  is  nothing  original  about  this  observation, 
but  it  serves  to  explain  how  it  is  that  the  Russians  have  won 
their  way  into  China  by  quiet  and  peaceable  means,  while 
we  have  always  been  running  our  heads  against  a  stone 
wall,  and  never  could  get  over  it  without  breaking  it  down. 
The  Russians  meet  the  Chinese  as  Greek  meets  Greek ;  craft 
is  encountered  with  craft,  politeness  with  politeness,  and 
patience  with  patience.  They  understand  each  other's  char- 
acter thoroughly,  because  they  are  so  closely  alike."  Michie 
went  on  to  say  that  "when  either  a  Russian  or  a  Chinese 
meets  a  European,  say  an  Englishman,  he  instinctively  re- 
coils from  the  blunt,  straightforward,  up-and-down  manner 
ot  coming  to  business  at  once,  and  the  Asiatic  either  declines 
a  contest  which  he  cannot  fight  with  his  own  weapons,  or, 
seizing  the  weak  point  of  his  antagonist,  he  angles  for  him 
until  he  wearies  him  into  acquiescence.  As  a  rule,  the 
Asiatic  has  the  advantage.  His  patient  equanimity  and 
heedlessness  of  the  waste  of  time  are  too  much  for  the  im- 
petuous haste  of  the  European.  This  characteristic  of  the 
Russian  trading  classes  has  enabled  them  to  insinuate  then:- 


THE  FUTURE   OF   CHINA.  535 

selves  into  the  confidence  of  the  Chinese;  to  fraternize  and 
identify  themselves  with  them,  and,  as  it  were,  to  make 
common  cause  with  them  in  their  daily  life;  while  the  West- 
ern European  holds  himself  aloof,  and  only  comes  in  contact 
with  the  Chinese  when  business  requires  it;  for,  in  all  the 
rest,  a  great  gulf  separates  them  in  thoughts,  ideas  and  the 
aims  of  life." 

Of  interest,  also,  as  showing  how  history  repeats  itself, 
are  the  observations  made  nearly  forty  years  ago  by  Lock- 
hart,  a  missionary,  after  a  long  residence  in  China.  Lock- 
hart  wrote:  "The  Russian  government  anticipated  us,  not 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  advantages  of  close  commercial  and 
political  relations  with  an  empire  so  enormous  in  its  resources, 
but  in  the  employment  of  those  arguments  that  alone  could 
render  a  vain  and  effeminate  State  sensible  of  their  value.  .  .  . 
The  map  of  all  the  Russias,  published  at  St.  Petersburg, 
now  includes  that  vast  portion  of  Central  Asia  heretofore 
constituting  the  outlying  provinces  of  the  Chinese  empire 
beyond  the  Great  "Wall.  Having  placed  a  mission  in  the 
Chinese  capital  and  organized  an  overwhelming  army  in 
Chinese  Tartary,  with  magazines  o£  warlike  resources, 
Russia  easily  secured  a  permanent  footing  in  region  after 
region,  till  she  had  dominated  over,  and  then  obtained  the 
cession  of,  all  the  intervening  space,  leaving  the  conquest  of 
the  entire  Chinese  empire  to  the  time  when  it  should  please 
the  reigning  Czar  to  order  his  Cossacks  to  take  possession. 
It  is  impossible  to  state  with  any  precision  the  amount  of 
moral  or  material  support  which  the  Chinese  emperor  re- 
ceived from  his  imperial  brother  and  formidable  -*9ighbor, 
and  which  encouraged  him  to  the  obstinate  resistance  that 
he  offered  to  the  demands  of  England  and  France  [in  I860]; 
but  a  slight  acquaintance  with  Russian  policy  must  satisfy 
any  one  that,  having  established  itself  as  a  favored  nation, 
Russia  could  not  regard  with  complacency  any  attempt 
made  by  another  nation  to  share  such  advantages.' *  Com- 
prehending, therefore,  the  Chinese  character,  perceiving 
dearly  that  the  present  Manchu  dynasty  is  unable  to  perform 


53 G  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   CHINA. 

the  elementary  functions  of  an  organized  society,  that  Pekin 
is  another  Teheran  or  Constantinople,  that,  while  the  people 
are  sound,  the  courts  and  the  officials  are  corrupt,  Russia 
has  studied  and  gained  over  certain  influential  persons  and 
applied  skillfully  the  maxim,  divide  et  impera.  What  China 
is  taught  night  and  day  is  that  Russia  is  a  land  power,  and, 
therefore,  alone  can  protect  China ;  that  she  keeps  her  prom- 
ises and  threats;  that,  with  England,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  always  a  case  of  vox  et  prceterea  nihil.  In  short,  Russia 
protects  China  in  a  peculiar  sense,  that  is  to  say,  for  a  price, 
to  be  paid  to  Russia  or  even  to  her  friends.  The  dominating 
idea  instilled  into  the  Chinese  court  and  bureaucracy,  which, 
in  the  absence  of  a  strong  policy  on  England's  part,  are  in  a 
hypnotized  condition,  is  to  be  saved  from  Japan.  The  great 
object  of  Russian  policy  is  to  utilize  China  for  territorial  and 
political  expansion. 

"What  would  China  be  worth  to  Russia?  This  question  is 
answered  by  Mr.  Colquhoun  at  considerable  length.  What 
the  utilization  of  China  would  mean  can  be  realized,  he  says, 
only  by  a  full  appreciation  of  the  extraordinary  resources  of 
that  country,  judged  from  various  points  of  view.  The 
Celestial  Empire  has  the  men  with  which  to  create  armies 
and  navies ;  the  materials,  especially  iron  and  coal,  requisite 
for  the  purposes  of  railway  and  steam  navigation;  all  the 
elements,  in  fact,  out  of  which  to  evolve  a  great  living  force. 
One  thing  alone  is  wanting,  namely,  the  will,  the  directing 
power,  which,  absent  from  within,  is  now  being  applied  from 
without.  That  supplied,  there  are  to  be  found  in  abundance 
within  China  itself  the  capacity  to  carry  out,  the  brains  to 
plan,  the  hands  to  work.  "When,  moreover,  it  is  understood 
that  not  merely  is  the  soil  fertile,  but  that  the  mineral 
resources,  the  greatest,  perhaps,  in  the  whole  world,  are, 
as  yet,  practically  untouched,  the  merest  surface  being 
scratched ;  when  we  further  consider  the  volume  of  China's 
population,  the  ability  and  enterprise,  and,  above  all,  the 
intense  vitality  of  the  people,  as  strong  as  ever  after  four 
millenniums;  when  we  reflect  on  the  general  characteristics 


THE   FUTURE    OF   CHINA.  537 

at  the  race;  it  seems  indisputable  that  the  Chinese,  under 
wise  direction,  are  destined  to  dominate  the  whole  of  Eastern 
Asia,  and,  may  be,  to  play  a  leading  part  in  the  affairs  of 
the  world.  Even  although  the  Celestial  Empire  appears  to 
be  now  breaking  up,  it  is  capable,  under  tutelage,  of  becom- 
ing reconsolidated.  Often  before  now,  when  conquered,  has 
China  either  thrown  off  the  yoke  or  absorbed  its  conquerors. 
But  never  before  has  the  conqueror  come,  as  does  the  czar 
to-day,  in  the  guise  of  a  great  organizing  force.  To  much 
the  same  effect  wrote  Michie,  whose  opinion  is  of  weight, 
and  from  whom  we  have  already  quoted:  "The  theory  that 
China's  decadence  is  due  to  the  fact  that  she  has  long  since 
reached  maturity  and  has  outlived  the  natural  term  of  a 
nation's  existence  does  not  hold  good.  The  mass  of  the 
people  have  not  degenerated;  they  are  as  fresh  and  vigorous 
as  ever  they  were ;  it  is  the  government  only  that  has  become 
old  and  feeble;  a  change  of  dynasty  may  yet  restore  to  China 
the  luster  which  belongs  legitimately  to  so  great  a  nation. 
The  indestructible  vitality  of  Chinese  institutions  has  pre- 
served the  country  unchanged  throughout  many  revolutions. 
The  high  civilization  of  the  people  and  their  earnestness  in 
the  pursuit  of  peaceful  industry  have  enabled  them  to  pre- 
serve their  national  existence  through  more  dynastic  changes 
than  perhaps  any  other  country  or  nation  has  experienced. " 
Mr.  Colquhoun,  for  his  own  part,  testifies  that,  in  peaceful 
pursuits,  in  agriculture,  in  the  arts  and  manufactures,  no 
limit  can  be  placed  to  the  capabilities  of  China.  Even  in 
the  paths  of  war,  he  deems  it  difficult  to  foretell  what,  under 
skillful  direction,  may  not  be  accomplished.  It  is  true  that, 
touching  this  point,  there  is  a  wide  difference  of  opinion. 
Prjevalski  said,  apropos  of  the  Tonquin  campaign:  "She 
[ChinaJ  lacks  the  proper  material ;  she  lacks  the  life-giving 
spirit.  Let  Europeans  supply  the  Chinese  with  any  number 
of  arms  that  they  please:  let  them  exert  themselves  ever 
so  energetically  to  train  Chinese  soldiers:  let  them  even 
supply  leaders:  the  Chinese  Army  will,  nevertheless,  even 
under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  never  be  more  than  an 


638  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   CHINA, 

artificially  created,  mechanically  united,  unstable  organism. 
Subject  it  but  once  to  the  serious  test  of  war,  speedy  dis- 
solution will  overtake  such  an  army,  which  could  never  hope 
for  victory  over  a  foe  animated  with  any  real  spirit."  On 
the  other  hand,  high  testimony  has  been  borne  by  other 
travelers  and  military  critics  to  the  excellent  quality  of 
China's  raw  material  for  military  purposes.  Wingrove 
Cooke,  the  "  Times"  correspondent  with  the  allied  forces 
in  1857-58,  who  is  generally  accounted  one  of  the  best  critics 
of  Chinese  men  and  affairs;  Count  d'Escayrac  de  Lauture, 
one  of  the  Pekin  prisoners  in  1859-60;  Chinese  Gordon  and 
Lord  "Wolseley,  have  all  spoken  highly  of  the  courage  and 
endurance  of  the  Chinese  soldier.  The  following  summary 
of  his  capabilities  was  given  by  one  who  had  had  experience 
with  Gordon's  "Ever- Victorious  Army":  "The  old  notion  is 
pretty  well  got  rid  of  that  they  are  at  all  a  cowardly  people, 
when  properly  paid  and  efficiently  led;  while  the  regularity 
and  order  of  their  habits,  which  dispose  them  to  peace  in 
ordinary  times,  give  place  to  a  daring  bordering  on  reck- 
lessness in  times  of  war.  Their  intelligence  and  capacity 
for  remembering  facts  render  them  well  fitted  for  use  in 
modern  warfare,  as  do  also  the  coolness  and  the  calmness 
of  their  disposition.  Physically,  they  are,  on  the  average, 
not  so  strong  as  Europeans,  but  considerably  more  so  than 
most  of  the  other  races  of  the  East ;  and,  on  a  cheap  diet  of 
rice,  vegetables,  salt  fish  and  pork,  they  can  go  through  a 
vast  amount  of  fatigue  whether  in  a  temperate  climate  or 
a  tropical  one,  where  Europeans  are  ill  fitted  for  exertion. 
Their  wants  are  few;  they  have  no  caste  prejudices  and 
hardly  any  appetite  for  intoxicating  liquors." 

It  is  Mr.  Colquhoun's  opinion,  based  upon  prolonged  ob- 
servr^on,  that,  if  China  were  conquered  by  Russia,  organ- 
ized, disciplined  and  led  by  Russian  officers  and  Russian 
administrators,  an  industrial  and  military  organization  would 
be  developed  which  India  could  not  face,  and  which  would 
shake  to  its  foundations  the  entire  fabric  of  the  British  Em- 
pire.    If,  he  says,  the  Chinese  failed  to  profit  by  their  nu- 


THE   FUTITRE   OF    CHINA.  539 

merical  superiority  and  their  power  of  movement  in  Ton- 
quin,  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  were  as  ill-equipped 
and  supplied  and  nearly  as  unorganized  and  unofficered  as 
they  were  in  the  Chino-Japanese  war.  Transport,  commis- 
sariat, tents,  medical  service,  all  the  paraphernalia  employed 
in  organized  army  work,  were  then,  as  in  the  late  campaign, 
absolutely  unknown.  Notwithstanding  the  unfavorable  j  udg- 
ment  of  Prjevalski  that  the  Chinese  are  animated  by  neither 
military  nor  patriotic  spirit,  the  conviction  of  many  observ- 
ers is  that,  however  undisciplined  they  proved  themselves  in 
the  Chino-Japanese  war ;  however  badly  the  undrilled,  unfed, 
unled  Chinamen  in  uniform  compared  with  the  highly  or- 
ganized troops  of  Japan,  their  capabilities,  as  the  compo- 
nents of  a  fighting  machine,  should  be  rated  exceedingly 
high.  The  apparent  inconsistencies  of  the  Chinese  can,  in 
all  likelihood,  be  reconciled.  That  they  offer  excellent  mili- 
tary material  when  shaped  and  guided  by  foreigners  may 
be  pronounced  certain.  If  they  come  from  the  Manchurian 
provinces  or  from  Shantung,  they  are  found  to  be  steady, 
willing  to  be  taught  and  amenable  to  discipline,  of  splendid 
physique  and  able  to  bear  hardships  and  cold  without  a  mur- 
mur. If  from  Honan,  they  exhibit  many  of  the  best  char- 
acteristics of  highland  races — courage  and  loyalty  to  their 
own  leader,  but  they  are  more  difficult  to  manage,  and  they 
are  not  steady  in  any  sense  of  the  word.  The  southern  Chi- 
nese seem  to  be  held  generally  in  low  esteem,  but  one  should 
not  forget  that  the  best  fighters  of  the  Taeping  army  were 
the  men  from  the  Canton  province,  and  that,  as  seamen,  the 
coast  populations  of  Southern  China  are  unequaled.  The 
western  highlanders,  whether  Mohammedans  or  not,  are 
men  of  good  physique,  and  would  make  good  fighting  ma- 
terial. The  Mongolians  are  horsemen  from  their  early  years, 
and  are  suitable  for  light  cavalry  of  the  Cossack  type. 

Like  the  Central  Asian  peoples,  the  Chinese  possess  in  a 
high  degree  the  virtue  of  passive  bravery.  At  first  the  Rus- 
sians, in  their  contests  in  Central  Asia,  expended  much  time 
and  wasted  many  lives  in  besieging  towns.     They  acted  with 


640  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF    CHINA. 

caution,  throwing  up  approaches  and  opening  trenches.  This 
method,  however,  was  presently  abandoned  for  that  of  open 
escalade,  as,  for  instance,  at  Tashkend,  Khojand  and  Ura- 
tapa.  Finally,  the  plan  was  adopted  of  storming  breaches, 
to  permit  of  which  breaching  batteries  would  be  thrown  up 
at  very  close  quarters,  after  which,  a  favorable  time  being 
chosen,  the  place  would  be  carried  by  storm.  From  every 
point  of  view,  this  proved  to  be  the  most  effective  method. 
The  Chinamen,  as  has  been  proved  repeatedly,  is  like  other 
Central  Asiatics  in  this  respect,  that,  under  cover,  he  sus- 
tains the  heaviest  fire  with  indifference ;  he  never  surrenders 
except  under  bold  assaults,  which  he  cannot  withstand. 

"What  is  the  conclusion  to  which  the  observations  of  all 
first-hand  students  of  China  have  conducted  them?  Their 
conclusion  is  that  it  is  a  question  of  vital  importance,  a  mat- 
ter of  commercial  life  and  death,  for  England  to  maintain 
and  consolidate  herself  in  the  Yangtse  basin,  which  cannot 
possibly  be  done  except  by  an  effective  occupation  of  the  up- 
per Yangtse,  and  by  developing  in  every  possible  way  her 
communications  along  that  watercourse,  and  by  the  West 
River  from  Hongkong,  also  by  railway  connection  with 
Upper  Burmah  and  through  that  province  with  India.  Mr. 
Colquhoun,  for  his  part,  also  believes  it  to  be  high  time  that 
countries  like  the  United  States,  Australasia  and  Germany 
should  set  themselves  to  watch  with  attention,  not  to  say 
anxiety,  the  situation  in  the  Far  East.  He  advises  them 
to  reflect  upon  the  history  of  the  ancient  empire  formed  by 
Genghis  Khan  and  his  successors,  for  that  history  is  repeat- 
ing itself  to-day.  Russia  is  conquering  by  modern  methods 
the  kingdoms  of  Genghis  and  Kublai  Khan,  and  the  Russian 
Czar,  once  emperor  of  China,  will  take  the  place  of  the  Tar- 
tar conquerors  who  carried  fire  and  sword  beyond  the  Car- 
pathians and  the  Vistula  and  throughout  eastern,  western 
and  southern  Asia. 

THE    END 


IJNIVF,PPT 


^ 


A     000  581  005     6 


DS 
73$ 


